Aida Bikić: Concentration and focus in the digital age

How Screens Affect Your Brain 🧠📱

Screens shape our brains, for better or worse. Cognitive training (just 30 mins/day!) can boost memory, attention, and motivation for months. But excessive screen time comes with risks:

The Attention Economy ⚡

  • Attention is limited: Multitasking = worse performance.

  • Tricks to trap you: Colorful icons, red notifications—kids get up to 4,600 daily!

Instant Gratification 🎯

  • Screens hack the brain’s reward system with quick dopamine boosts every 20–30 seconds.

  • Youth are vulnerable: Impulsive, short-term thinking, and trouble delaying gratification.

The Consequences: "TikTok Brain" 📹

Too much short-form content harms focus, memory, and mental health:

  • Lower attention span

  • Increased anxiety and depression

  • Struggles with long-term tasks

Take Back Control 💪

  • Keep your phone in another room 📵

  • Set your screen to black and white ⚫⚪

  • Use a real alarm clock ⏰

Mindful habits = a healthier, happier brain! 🌟

Aida Bikic is an Associate Professor and a clinical psychologist at the University of Southern Denmark, specializing in child and adolescents’ psychiatry and screen time research. With a strong background in clinical psychology, her research focuses on the cognitive and emotional effects of screen time on both typically developing children and youth and those with ADHD. Aida has led multiple randomized controlled clinical trials on non-pharmacological treatments including screen time reductions for ADHD, cognitive training and  parent training. 

Aida holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Cognitive Psychology from the University of Southern Denmark and has completed postgraduate studies in child psychiatry at Yale University. She continues to work as a public speaker, sharing her expertise in child and youth mental health in the media and as a consultant for the Danish government.

Her work is driven by a passion for improving the well-being of children and youth in the digital age.

Marketing BHFF