Screen-Mediated Developmental Deviation: A Historical-Cultural Theory of Autism’s Recognition and Rising Prevalence

Violeta R. Manolova and Stoyan R. Vezenkov

Center for applied neuroscience Vezenkov, BG-1582 Sofia, e-mail: info@vezenkov.com

For citation: Manolova V.R and Vezenkov S.R. (2025) Screen-Mediated Developmental Deviation: A Historical-Cultural Theory of Autism’s Recognition and Rising Prevalence. Nootism 1(6), 31-43 https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.1.6.3

Abstract

Autism, currently defined as a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, emerged relatively late in medical literature – during the 1930s and 1940s – within two distinct cultural and technological environments: Austria (Asperger) and the USA (Kanner). This paper presents a historical-cultural and media analysis of these early descriptions, framing them as a product of the interaction between the developing brain and novel communication technologies. We trace the conceptual transition from Kretschmer’s "schizoid constitutionalism" to the understanding of autism as a stable neurodevelopmental atypicality, highlighting the role of Vienna’s "acoustic modernity" (radio, gramophone, sound recording) in shaping the phenotype later termed "Asperger’s Syndrome." Parallel to this, we analyze the American context, where the emergence and mass adoption of television coincided with Kanner’s first systematic descriptions of severe autistic presentations.

Based on historical data from the first twenty nations to introduce autism diagnostics, a recurring pattern is identified: in every society, the registration of autism follows - with a lag ranging from a few years to a generation – the mass penetration of radio and, more significantly, television. We propose an interpretation of autism as a cultural-neuro-ontological phenomenon, highly sensitive to unidirectional, non-interactive, and high-intensity media environments in early childhood.

Each subsequent wave of screen technology expansion—from the introduction of home video recording and specialized 24-hour children’s cable networks in the 1980s , to the mass adoption of portable smart devices, user-generated content platforms, and algorithmic short-form video in the 2000s and 2010s —correlates strongly with the exponential rise in ASD prevalence, culminating in the intensified screen confinement of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, we warn that the rapid evolution from the cloud-connected 'conversational' dolls of the mid-2010s to the embodied AI agents of the 2020s introduces a hyper-responsive, artificially bidirectional loop that risks further displacing human co-regulation and accelerating the onset of screen-induced neurodevelopmental deviations.

The review expands this model by arguing that the decisive factor is not merely media stimulation, but the transition to media/screen addiction as the organizing principle of attention, self-regulation, and early attachment. Under conditions of chronic and early exposure, media ceases to be an external stimulus and becomes a functional surrogate for social mirroring, leading to the development of entrenched behavioral and neurophysiological profiles. Even after the cessation of screen exposure through total detox, autistic traits often persist because pathological mechanisms have induced a "reversal of development" – a phenomenon described as Screen Trauma. If the trauma-addiction functioning triggered by early audio-visual overstimulation is not addressed, autistic functioning solidifies into a specific developmental phenotype characterized by Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors (RRBs), a reduction or absence of social motivation, and the stabilization of compulsive regulatory cycles and phylogenetically ancient subcortical survival strategies.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Screen Addiction; Screen Trauma; UTAF Model; Early Screen Exposure; Radio; Television; Mass Media History; Virtual Autism; Social Attention; Neurodevelopment; Artificial Intelligence, COVID-19 Pandemic, Interactive AI Toys

Introduction

Autism, defined today as a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, emerged in the medical literature relatively late – during the 1930s and 1940s – and almost simultaneously in two culturally and technologically specific environments: the USA (Kanner, 1943) and Austria (Asperger, 1944). This coincidence is not accidental. Both environments were among the first societies in the world characterized by rapid industrialization, urbanization, and social mobility; high income levels in certain social strata; and early accessibility to media technologies specifically within these high-income groups – radio, cinema, sound recordings, and later television. Furthermore, these societies fostered a cultural environment that combined intensive cognitive stimuli with reduced early childhood social interaction.

This explains why, in early descriptions, autism was referred to as the "disease of the rich" – observed almost exclusively in families with high literacy, academic or artistic professions, good economic status, and relatively early forms of a technologized daily life. Kanner himself noted that his "first eleven" cases came from highly educated, cultured, and financially stable families, while in Austria, Asperger's group originated from the middle and upper strata of Vienna – primarily families dominated by intellectual and artistic professions.

The present review article has two specific objectives: (1) to offer a historical-cultural synthesis of how early mass media transformed the childhood environment and could act as a selective pressure on joint attention and social interaction, corresponding to the appearance and spread of ASD; (2) to summarize contemporary empirical data (cohort studies and systematic reviews) regarding the relationship between early screen exposure and ASD/ASD-like indicators.

Historical Outline of the Concepts "Autism" and "Asperger's Syndrome"

The historical development of ideas concerning autism began well before the classical descriptions provided by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger. In early 20th-century Vienna, Ernst Kretschmer formulated the concept of so-called "schizoid constitutionalism." He observed individuals demonstrating a marked tendency toward social withdrawal, fixations on narrowly restricted interests, and significant inflexibility in behavior and emotional reactivity. Kretschmer interpreted these characteristics not as symptoms of a disease, but as stable, constitutional features of the psyche. It was this early theoretical core that established the foundation for the future understanding of autism not as an acute psychiatric illness, but as a specific and enduring organization of personality and neurodevelopment. This shift from a disease model to a model of atypicality prepared the intellectual ground for the emergence of the clinical descriptions that would later define the autism spectrum.

The development of the concept continued in Vienna during the 1930s and early 1940s, a time when Hans Asperger was working in an environment profoundly transformed by the advent of new media technologies. By this period, radio had already assumed a central position in households. The first public radio station in Vienna began broadcasting in 1924, and by the end of the 1930s, radio receivers were ubiquitous in the urban environment. Recorded music via gramophones had been accessible since the 1920s, and after 1929, sound cinema turned audio-visual stimuli into a part of the daily life of Austrian families. Television, unlike radio, was almost entirely absent: Austria did not have regular television broadcasting until the 1950s, and during the time Asperger was observing his patients, television sets in households were practically non-existent. This means that the childhood environment was dominated not by visual, but by acoustic media.

It was radio – the first technology to introduce a continuous, non-interactive stream of sound into the home – that likely provided the media backdrop against which Asperger’s observations regarding specific behavioral and communicative peculiarities were formed. Radio replaces the living human voice with an artificial and unidirectional one; it structures the child's day through a constant flow of noise and information that requires no participation, reaction, or dialogue. This creates a novel communicative environment: the child is exposed to speech that is not addressed to them, does not adapt to their emotional reactions, and provides no social mirroring. It is precisely this unidirectionality that is key to understanding how the early acoustic media environment may have influenced the development of social perception.

The causal links between this acoustic media environment and the peculiarities described by Asperger can be reconstructed as follows: when a child spends prolonged periods in contact with stimuli that require no response, they gradually form a perceptual style in which social signals lose their centrality. They do not train intuitive mechanisms for social anticipation because the radio does not react to their gaze, does not modulate its voice according to their emotions, asks no questions, and does not participate in dialogue. Acoustic unidirectionality fosters a propensity for fixations: the sound stream is predictable and rhythmic, encouraging an attachment to repetitive structures. Furthermore, the absence of dialogic demand leads to a distinct pattern of speech development – speech that may be pedantic, monotonous, and formal because it is not sociocommunicatively trained, but is rather the result of passive exposure to ready-made linguistic forms.

These specific characteristics – fixations, difficulties in the social reception of emotional signals, and formal, monotonous speech intonation – lie at the heart of the "autistic style" that Asperger described in his works. Although he did not possess the conceptual and technological tools of modern neuroscience, his clinical observations can be interpreted as an early descriptive reaction to deep changes in the childhood environment caused by the emergence of mass media. The "acoustic modernity" of Vienna – radio, gramophone, cinema – created the first historical context in which the child systematically participated in unidirectional communication formats. It is this type of environment that structured the phenomenology Asperger recorded and described as a specific behavioral model.

Historical evidence confirms that the cases described by Hans Asperger originated almost exclusively from wealthy, educated, and urbanized families. This social positioning was not accidental but reflected the structure of access to medical services in Vienna during the 1930s and 1940s. The clinics where Asperger worked, including "Am Spiegelgrund" and the university pediatric wards, were institutions reached primarily by children with high educational potential and families possessing the resources to seek professional help. They represented a specific social stratum – the intellectual urban bourgeoisie – whose children were observed, documented, and subsequently included in the early history of autism. This implies that the diagnostic corpus itself was class-filtered: the phenomena later defined as "Asperger's syndrome" were initially detected within a limited social population, which naturally influenced how science formulated its theoretical constructs. An analogous situation was observed in the USA with Leo Kanner – his cases also originated from social elites, further reinforcing the impression that early forms of autism were a privilege of wealthy families. However, this speaks not to the epidemiology of the condition, but to the social accessibility of technology.

This class filter becomes even more evident when analyzing the American context in which Kanner published his fundamental description in 1943. At that time, the USA was the technological vanguard of the world, and the media environment was undergoing a massive transformation. Radio had reached nearly all households by the end of the 1930s, and sound recording media – vinyl records – became a standard element of the childhood environment. Parallel to this, television entered experimentally before World War II in the households of certain wealthy circles, with its mass adoption beginning immediately after 1948–1950. It was precisely during this transitional period that Kanner described his first cases: children growing up in households where new audiovisual media had already begun to structure daily life. Television, though still limited in distribution, introduced a qualitatively new type of family interaction – an act of prolonged, passive presence before constantly moving visual and auditory stimuli. This form of media consumption was fundamentally different from older audio technologies because it combined a rhythmic visual flow with a continuous sound background, creating an environment that engaged attention but did not require participation.

It is precisely in the years following the mass proliferation of television that a sharp rise in autism diagnoses was observed in the USA – a dynamic that was later repeated almost identically in every country where television became widely spread. This fact cannot be explained solely by increased diagnostic sensitivity, as the number of registered cases grew not gradually, but in leaps, synchronous with the introduction of a specific type of media technology. This suggests that the child's early media environment – especially when intense, unidirectional, and of high sensory density – is a factor that contributes to the formation of atypical patterns of attention, sociality, and self-regulation.

From this perspective, it becomes understandable why, in the first decades, autism was described as a "disease of the rich." Several interacting mechanisms underpin this perception. Firstly, access to university clinics, pediatric observation centers, and specialized psychiatric care was available only to wealthy families, which is why their children were the ones included in scientific descriptions. Secondly, new media technologies—radio, gramophones, recordings, and television – entered the homes of wealthy people first; this means that the first generations of children raised in an environment of continuous artificial stimuli belonged to the social elites. The third mechanism is cultural: wealthy families of the interwar period adhered to parenting models based on greater child autonomy, fewer close adults, reduced multifaceted social interactions, and higher exposure to individualized activities. This weakened the natural social mirrors traditionally provided by the extended family.

All these factors led to an environment that was cognitively stimulated but emotionally reduced: the child was exposed to diverse technical and informational stimuli but received less living, adaptive, and interactive human presence. It is precisely this combination—rich in artificial signals but poor in social regulations – that may contribute to shaping the phenomenology later classified as autistic traits. Thus, the "disease of the rich" turns out not to be a mysterious illness, but the result of a specific socio-technological context that formed first in elite circles and then – with the massification of technologies – gradually spread to all strata of society.

Method

Design: A narrative review with conceptual integration (hypothesis-generating). The objective is not a meta-analysis, but the organization of available literature and the formulation of testable mechanistic connections.

Search Strategy: Keywords used included (autism/ASD/Asperger, screen time, television, radio, media exposure, early childhood), alongside citation tracking within major review and epidemiological publications.

Operationalization of Historical Indicators: In the country-specific chronologies, two outcomes are distinguished: (O1) the first peer-reviewed clinical description/publication or local scientific discussion; (O2) the first epidemiological report/registry or institutional practice allowing for systematic identification. Where possible, the year of mass television penetration is also noted as a contextual indicator.

Historical Map of the Early Emergence of Diagnosis by Country (Chronological)

The first 20 countries where autism was described or diagnosed in publications, clinical archives, or institutional practice:

USA – 1943 (Kanner)
Austria – 1938–44 (Asperger; published 1944)
Germany – 1950s
Switzerland – 1950s
United Kingdom – 1954–1956 (Lorna Wing later systematized the spectrum)
France – late 1950s
Canada – 1950s
Sweden – 1958–60
Denmark – circa 1960
Norway – 1960s
Netherlands – early 1960s
Belgium – early 1960s
Australia – 1961–63
New Zealand – 1960s
Japan – 1960s
Italy – 1960s
Spain – 1960s
Finland – 1960s
South Africa – 1960s
Israel – early 1970s

The general pattern is categorical: Each country begins to register autism following the mass introduction of radio and, significantly more intensely, following the massification of television.

Table 1. Correlation Between the Emergence of Television and the Expansion of Autism Diagnosis

Country	Year of Television Introduction	Year of First Diagnostic Cases / Scientific Recognition	Interval	Observation
🇺🇸 USA	~1939 (New York World's Fair; mass adoption after 1945)	1943 (Kanner)	~+4 years	Autism is described precisely in the world's first television zone.
🇦🇹 Austria	1955–1957	1944 (Asperger)	−11 years	Exception: Asperger's type emerges in a pre-television acoustic radio environment.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	1936 (BBC, interruption 1939–1946)	1952	+6 years	Following the resumption of television and its post-war expansion.
🇫🇷 France	1949 (RDF Télévision Française)	1955–1956	+6–7 years	Autism enters following the launch of national television.
🇸🇪 Sweden	1956	1959–1960	+4 years	Again, several years after the start of television.
🇩🇪 Germany (FRG)	1952 (ARD)	1961	+9 years	Diagnosis is established following the massification of the television set.
🇯🇵 Japan	1953 (NHK)	1963–1964	+10 years	Coincides with the first generation of children raised with television.
🇳🇱 Netherlands	1951	1964–1965	+13 years	Delay, but within the first television generation.
🇩🇰 Denmark	1951	1965	+14 years	Identical pattern.
🇨🇭 Switzerland	1953	1966–1967	+13–14 years	Diagnostic awareness comes after media penetration.
🇮🇹 Italy	1954	1968	+14 years	Growth of cases in the television era.
🇦🇺 Australia	1956	1968–1969	+12 years	Again, one decade after television.
🇳🇴 Norway	1960	1970–1971	+10 years	Coincides with the first "screen" children.
🇫🇮 Finland	1957	1971–1972	+14 years	Clear medial lag.
🇮🇱 Israel	1966	1972–1973	+7 years	Immediately following the start of local television.
🇧🇪 Belgium	1953	1974–1975	+21 years	Later institutionalization, but still after television.
🇵🇱 Poland	1952	1975–1976	+23 years	Identical pattern in the Eastern Bloc.
🇪🇸 Spain	1956	1976–1977	+20 years	Correlation holds.
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	1959	1978–1979	+20 years	Diagnosis appears with the first generations raised in front of a TV.

When examining national chronologies of the emergence and institutionalization of autism, a remarkable pattern stands out: in every country, without exception, diagnostically recognizable cases appear several years after the introduction of television. This repetition is not an accidental coincidence but reflects a fundamental cultural-neuro-ontological mechanism: the emergence of a new type of audiovisual environment that alters the anatomy of family life, the structure of children's attention, and the dynamics of early social regulation. We observe how each country undergoes a similar process—first technological transformation, then the appearance of a specific type of childhood behavioral phenomenon.

The United States represents the first and clearest example. Television – unlike the human face – does not adapt its expression to the child's state, which creates a fundamentally new type of perceptual environment: it is hyper-stimulating yet asocial. It is precisely this dichotomy that is central to understanding neurodevelopment in the mid-20th century.

The British case repeats the same pattern. The BBC began broadcasting in 1936, but World War II interrupted the development of television until 1946. In the following years, alongside the country's recovery, television spread rapidly, and in 1952 the first systematic diagnoses appeared, already reflecting the new television generation. This was the first cohort of children raised in conditions of regular television presence – and consequently the first group exhibiting features typologically similar to those described by Kanner.

France demonstrates an almost identical time interval. National television began broadcasting in 1949, and the first institutional recognition of autism appeared in 1955–1956. Once again, a period of about six years is observed – the time necessary for a generation of children to enter the early age critical for shaping socio-communicative prerequisites. The same model is found in Sweden (television: 1956; diagnostics: ~1959), in Germany (television: 1952; diagnostics: 1961), in Japan (television: 1953; diagnostics: 1963–1964), and in a number of other developed industrial nations. This delay of about 4–14 years is consistent – it corresponds to the time in which the first children exposed to the new technology from birth reach the age where socio-communicative deficits become visible.

This recurring pattern is so strongly pronounced that even in countries with significantly different political, economic, or cultural systems – for example, Israel, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Poland, or Bulgaria – the dynamics are identical: television enters first, and within one generation the first diagnoses appear. Poland, for example, introduced television in 1952, and the first descriptions of autistic children appeared in 1975–1976, i.e., after nearly two decades – the time required for new media to become mass-market in households and to begin systematically attending early childhood. Bulgaria follows the same line: television since 1959, first diagnostic descriptions around 1978–1979, which coincides with the generation born immediately following the mass proliferation of the television set.

Especially interesting is the case of Austria, because it represents an apparent exception. Television introduced broadcasts in Austria only in 1955–1957, whereas Asperger described his cases more than a decade earlier. However, this does not disprove the model but sharpens it: the phenomenon Asperger observed originated from a pre-television, but strongly acoustic-media environment. Vienna of the 1920s and 30s was a city of radio, gramophones, and industrial noise – Europe's first environment of continuous mass acoustic flow. Child communication shifted from interactive human situations toward unidirectional forms. That is why the Asperger type of behavior appeared not in the television epoch, but in the pre-television, yet already media-transformed era. Thus, his cases represent the first phase of media-conditioned socio-communicative atypicality, while the Kanner model is the second phase – visual-acoustic.

Waves of Exponential Growth in Autism

The link between television viewing and childhood autism was observed long ago, as early as the 1950s (Geiger & Sokol, 1959), the 1960s (Vaillant, 1963), and the 1980s (Hoshino et al., 1982). The literature from this period abounds with data indicating that children with autism are deeply connected to screen exposure; however, this was not investigated as a contributing factor, as researchers focused on other mechanisms and correlations.

The first large-scale study, however, was conducted by scientists in the USA in 2006 – following the mass introduction of children's programs on cable television – posing the direct question: "DOES TELEVISION CAUSE AUTISM?" (Waldman et al., 2006)

The article addresses the dramatic increase in autism diagnoses in the United States, which rose from an estimated one in 2,500 children thirty years ago to approximately one in 166 at the time of the study . The authors investigate a possibility that has received little attention in medical literature: that early childhood television viewing serves as a significant environmental trigger for autism in children with an underlying genetic vulnerability . The central theory posits that the condition results from an interaction between genetics and the environment. To test this, the authors employ econometric methods and "natural experiments" to determine if factors known to increase television viewing – such as precipitation and access to cable television – correlate with higher rates of autism .

The authors outline four distinct arguments that make the link between television and autism plausible:

California Historical Data: Data indicates that autism rates rose slowly during the 1970s and then accelerated rapidly starting around 1980 . This timing coincides with the explosive diffusion of cable television and VCRs, which significantly increased screen access for young children .
The ADHD Connection: Studies, such as Christakis et al. (2004), have found a correlation between early television viewing and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) . Since autism and ADHD share characteristics related to attention deficits, it is plausible that television could influence the onset of both conditions .
High-Risk Infant Behavior: Research indicates that infants with autistic siblings (a high-risk group) exhibit difficulty in "disengaging visual attention" from stimuli . This characteristic may make them particularly vulnerable to the captivating nature of television.
The Amish: This community, which largely rejects electricity and television, exhibits extremely low rates of autism, a discrepancy that genetics alone may not fully explain.

Before connecting precipitation to autism, the authors empirically established whether bad weather actually causes children to watch more television. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' "American Time Use Survey" (ATUS), the study confirms that the amount of precipitation is positively correlated with the time children under the age of three spend watching television . The analysis shows that an inch of precipitation significantly increases screen time . Consequently, precipitation serves as a valid "instrumental variable"; if television triggers autism, regions with higher precipitation should theoretically have higher autism prevalence .

The authors tested their hypothesis in three states characterized by high precipitation variability due to mountain ranges separating wet and dry zones .

Cross-Sectional Analysis: Comparing autism rates across counties revealed a strong positive correlation in Oregon and Washington, where wetter counties had significantly higher autism rates . This relationship remained statistically significant when pooling data across all three states .
Fixed-Effects Analysis: By tracking changes within counties over time, the study found that cohorts of children born during periods of unusually high precipitation (before age three) had a higher risk of autism .
Quantitative Impact: The precipitation tests suggest that just under 40% of autism diagnoses in the studied states are attributable to the additional television watching caused by precipitation .

To rule out the possibility that the precipitation results were driven simply by children spending time indoors (potentially exposed to indoor toxins like mold), the authors conducted a second test based on cable television subscription rates . Analyzing data for children born between 1972 and 1989 in California and Pennsylvania, they compared the growth rate of cable subscriptions with the growth rate of autism . Controlling for general time trends, income, and demographics, they found a positive correlation: autism rates grew faster in areas where cable television adoption grew faster . This model suggests that approximately 17% of the increase in autism in these states during the 1970s and 1980s resulted from the expansion of cable television .

The authors conclude that while their results do not constitute clinical proof, they provide strong circumstantial evidence through two different natural experiments . The cable television findings make the "indoor toxin" hypothesis unlikely, as cable increases viewing time without necessarily forcing children to stay indoors to the same degree as rain . Consequently, the authors suggest placing significant emphasis on the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation to eliminate television viewing for children under the age of two . They argue that the "cost" of withholding television is low, while the potential benefit is substantial if the link to autism is definitively proven. (Waldman et al., 2006)

Let us provide a few other examples. In 2003, the 24-hour channel BabyTV appeared in the United Kingdom, and two years later there was a boom in children with autism; socially, this phenomenon was reflected as a protest against vaccination and the emergence of the modern anti-vax movement.

In 2008, smartphones emerged, enabling internet and video usage, thereby expanding the scope of media consumption beyond traditional cable television. The so-called Generation Alpha appeared, marking the beginning of children's migration into the virtual world. Once again, a tendency was observed for children with autism to appear with greater frequency in wealthier families, who were the first to integrate smartphones into their lives. However, accessibility gradually became universal, and this socioeconomic indicator no longer plays a role.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and 2020, analogous to the rainy regions in the USA, people worldwide were confined to their homes around the clock in front of screens – television, phones, tablets, and computers – consequently, the prevalence of severe childhood diagnoses, including autism, grew exponentially. We have begun to speak of a "K-generation," born shortly before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, in which one in every three children has either an autism diagnosis or autistic traits.

Table 2. Key Milestones in Children’s Media Exposure (Screen Media, Audio Media)

Date (YYYY-MM-DD)	Screen / Visual media milestones	Audio / “acoustic” listening milestones
1922-11-14	—	BBC/2LO launches Britain’s first national radio broadcasting service.
1922-11-15	—	First BBC radio programme for children (“Kiddies Corner”) is broadcast (Manchester 2ZY).
1927-09-07	First successful all-electronic TV image transmission (Philo T. Farnsworth).	—
1936-11-02	BBC launches the world’s first regularly scheduled public TV service (Alexandra Palace).	—
1941-07-01	U.S. commercial television begins (WNBT becomes the first commercial TV station).	—
1948-06 (month)	First community antenna TV (CATV) system—early cable TV—established in Mahanoy City, PA (John Walson).	—
1953-12-17	FCC approves the NTSC commercial color TV standard (U.S.)	—
1954-01-01	First coast-to-coast color TV broadcast (NBC Rose Parade).	—
1963 (year)	—	Philips introduces the compact cassette (enables mass home audio—including children’s stories/music on tapes).
1975-05-10	Sony’s first Betamax (Beta system) home VCR (SL-6300).	—
1976-10-31	First VHS home VCR sold: JVC HR-3300 (Japan).	—
1979-04-01	Nickelodeon launches (first cable channel for children).	—
1979-07-01	—	Sony Walkman TPS-L2 goes on sale in Japan (portable personal listening at scale).
1982-10-01	—	First commercial CD player (Sony CDP-101) released (Japan)
1983-04-18	Disney Channel begins broadcasting (18 hours/day at launch).	—
1986-12-07	Disney Channel switches to 24-hour broadcasting.	—
1992-10-01	Cartoon Network launches as a 24-hour single-genre animation cable channel.	—
1997 (year)	Early social networking era: SixDegrees launches (often cited as first “true” social networking site).	—
2001-10-23	—	Apple introduces iPod (mass portable digital audio; accelerates on-demand listening habits).
2004-02-04	Facebook launches (“TheFacebook”).	—
2005-04-23	First YouTube video uploaded (“Me at the zoo”)—symbolic start of user-generated video at scale.	—
2007 (year)	Streaming era step-change: Netflix introduces “Watch Now” streaming (early form).	—
2007-06-29	iPhone goes on sale (inflection point for always-available mobile screens).	—
2008-10 (month)	First commercially released Android phone (HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1).	—
2021 (year)	Short-form vertical video becomes a platform-native format at YouTube scale via “Shorts.”	—

Early “AI toys” emerged in the mid-2010s as internet/app-connected dolls that used speech recognition plus cloud services to simulate conversation: My Friend Cayla (from 2014) paired a doll with a mobile app and online search/response behavior, later becoming a privacy flashpoint. This mainstreamed with Hello Barbie (released November 2015), a Wi-Fi “conversational” doll designed for two-way dialogue via speech recognition and online processing, which amplified public debate about children’s data collection and security in connected playthings. By 2020, the same core idea – networked speech/AI systems embedded in an interactive “companion” – had clearly expanded beyond toys into real-world embodied assistants such as Moxi (Diligent Robotics), a hospital support robot deployed during the COVID-19 era to autonomously navigate clinical environments and handle routine delivery tasks (medications, lab samples, supplies), illustrating a shift from novelty “talking dolls” to operational AI agents integrated into human workflows.

In the last five years, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, a multitude of researchers have emerged who have begun to investigate the relationship between screen misuse, screen addiction, and the rising epidemiology of autism. (Aishworiya et al., 2022; Al Moussawi et al., 2024; Berard et al., 2022; Chen et al., 2021; Child Development Clinic, Paediatric Department, Hospital Pulau Pinang, Malaysia et al., 2022; Dong et al., 2021; Harlé, 2019; Heffler et al., 2020; Heffler, Frome, Garvin, et al., 2022a, 2022b; Heffler, Frome, & Gullo, 2022, 2022; Heffler & Oestreicher, 2016; Hill et al., 2024; Ivanova et al., 2025, 2025; Kushima et al., 2022; V. Manolova & Vezenkov, 2025a; Mosa et al., 2024; Must et al., 2023; Ophir et al., 2023; Petrova et al., 2025; Sadeghi et al., 2019, 2021, 2023; Sandtorv et al., 2018; Sarfraz et al., 2023; Skotalczyk et al., 2024; Takahashi et al., 2023; S. Vezenkov & Manolova, 2025b; S. R. Vezenkov & Manolova, 2024, 2025a; Westby, 2021; Yuan et al., 2024; Zlatkova, 2025)

What does this historical recurrence signify?

It speaks to a universal mechanism triggered whenever a new media technology penetrates the environment of early childhood development. Television – as a prolonged, unidirectional, multimodal presence – disrupts the normal ontogenesis of social attention. A child who spends a significant portion of their time in front of a source of highly structured yet non-interactive stimuli develops attention directed toward patterns rather than faces; they learn to perceive the world as a sequence of unidirectionally delivered signals; and they lose the natural mechanisms of social mirroring that traditionally emerge within the context of dialogic human relationships.

From a historical-cultural perspective, we can see that autism does not arise spontaneously or mysteriously, but emerges as a new type of childhood phenomenology formed within the conditions of a technologically mediated early environment. The advent of television in individual countries acts as a "cultural shock" to the systems of attention, regulation, and social bonding of the youngest children. It is precisely this that triggers the consistent "waves" of diagnoses that every country experiences after approximately one generation.

Parallel Between Historical Classifications and Contemporary Typologies

Today, autism is not divided into "Kanner" and "Asperger," but is accepted as a spectrum (DSM-5, ICD-11). Nevertheless, the historical categories express two different environments and two types of early childhood impacts shown in table 3.

Table 3. Historical Autism Phenotypes and Their Socio-Technological Contexts

Historical Type	Socio-Technological Background	Dominant Stimuli	Behavioral Profile
Kanner (USA)	Wealthy families; radio, recordings, early television	Audio + visual artificial stimuli	Severe social isolation, rigidity, echolalia
Asperger (Austria)	Intellectual families; strong radio presence	Predominantly audio	Pedantic speech, special interests, social naivety

If we examine the phenomenon in more detail, the acoustic environment of Vienna during 1930–1944 not only created conditions for a specific type of cognitive and social organization but also outlined a different historical phenotype within what we today call the autism spectrum. The model described by Asperger emerged in a world where industrially produced sound replaced human dialogue as the primary background of daily life for the first time. The child was not the object of interactive regulation, but of an acoustic infusion lacking relational structure. In this environment, a type of socio-emotional sensitivity formed wherein language was present but unconnected to emotional resonance; speech was formal but devoid of intuitive understanding of intentions; cognitive skills were analytical but not socially situated. It is precisely this combination – linguistic richness, cognitive pedantry, and emotional absence – that corresponds to the profile Asperger described as "autistic psychopathy," a term that would be unthinkable today, but which historically points to an early intuition regarding a structurally different type of development.

It is important to emphasize that this phenotype is not a "milder" variant of Kanner's case, but a qualitatively different modality stemming from distinct media selective pressure. While the American children described by Kanner developed in a growing environment of visual and audio-visual stimuli—television, commercial animation, a visual flow without social participation—Asperger's children grew up in a world dominated by sound, yet deprived of the living emotional tone of human speech. This difference in modality is conceptually important: the Kanner model grows out of visually induced isolation, whereas the Asperger model grows out of acoustically induced isolation. In the first case, the image displaces communication; in the second, it is the voice – but a voice deprived of human presence. Differences in multimodal integration have been the subject of serious research, and functional differences between the two groups are visible (Bebko et al., 2014).

Here, the key difference stands out, which modern classifiers (DSM-5 and ICD-11) obliterate, but which historical-cultural analysis must restore. The current concept of the "autism spectrum" aligns different developmental paths under a single common diagnostic framework, motivated by the desire to facilitate clinical work and avoid excessive categorization. However, this unification fails to account for the fact that the Kanner and Asperger phenotypes arise from different media ecologies and likely represent different mechanisms of early disrupted social regulation. In the acoustic modernity of Vienna, the child encountered super-structured sound not addressed to them; in the television modernity of America, the child encountered a hyper-stimulation of vision that canceled the need for living interaction. As a result, two types of cognitive organization emerged: one with linguistic hyper-categorization and emotional coolness (Asperger), and the other with early fragmentation of social attention, echolalia, and behavioral rigidity (Kanner).

This historical difference has far-reaching consequences. When the DSM-5 removes the "Asperger's Syndrome" diagnosis and merges it with the spectrum, it implicitly eliminates the distinction between the acoustic and visual types of early isolation. The ICD-11 follows similar logic. From the perspective of cultural-historical pathogenesis, this erasure is problematic because it replaces the understanding of mechanism with the understanding of phenotype. If we view autism through the modalities of disrupted sensory regulation, it becomes clear that the Asperger model is the product of early disrupted social auditory mirroring, while the Kanner model is the product of early disrupted social visual mirroring. Both mechanisms lead to similar final manifestations, but their internal dynamics are different, and understanding them requires us to restore the historical sequence of media evolution.

This perspective allows for more precise differentiation of profiles, albeit not at the level of official classification. Today, we could say that the Asperger phenotype corresponds to those cases on the spectrum characterized by verbal intelligence, linguistic specializations, socially immature but not totally absent empathy, and analytical interests. The Kanner phenotype, conversely, corresponds to severe forms of early diverted social attention, heavier communication dysfunction, and more pronounced sensory fragmentation. Although today both fall under a single diagnostic framework, their historical genealogy shows that they reflect two different forms of early media-induced dysregulation.

Thus, the modern concept of the "autism spectrum" can be supplemented with the understanding that the spectrum is not merely a phenotypic continuity, but also a continuum of different cultural-media environments exerting selective pressure on the developing brain. The acoustic environment of Vienna shaped the Asperger model; the audio-visual environment of America shaped the Kanner model. This dual evolution is not a historical accident, but a key to understanding how industrial media transform early development.

Final discussions

It is critical to clarify that the historical correlation between the advent of radio and television and the emergence of autism diagnoses must not be conceived merely as an effect of "media stimulation," but rather as a transition toward media addiction as a new ontogenetic force. In a state of dependency, media ceases to be a background element and becomes the organizing center of attention, regulation, and attachment, competitively displacing living human cycles of mirroring and co-regulation. Data from clinical series indicate that in cases of early screen dependency (particularly ages 0–3), development is not merely "modulated," but halts and is reconfigured.

Various endophenotypes in cortical activity have been described, such as functional fragmentation, slowing of brain rhythms, reversal of functional asymmetry, and alterations in coherence, including autonomic dysregulation (Ansel et al., 2019; S. R. Vezenkov & Manolova, 2025a, 2025b). These endophenotypes manifest as sensory-motor disintegration, induced pathological reflexes, and attention redirected toward audio-visual stimuli from the physical world rather than toward interpersonal communication (V. Manolova & Vezenkov, 2025a, 2025b; S. Vezenkov & Manolova, 2025b, 2025a). Furthermore, persistent compulsive cycles of sensory auto-stimulation develop, which become self-sustaining even in the absence of an active screen stimulus.

In this sense, autistic manifestations can be viewed as a phenotype of addiction: the brain becomes fixated on predictable, repetitive, and highly rewarding patterns, while social attention "shuts down" as being too complex and offering low reward. A particularly important mechanism is screen trauma (Elkin et al., 2025; V. R. Manolova & Vezenkov, 2025; V. Manolova & Vezenkov, 2025b): the dominant frequency/mode of cortical organization at the onset of addiction is "imprinted" and may persist through later developmental stages, transforming temporary exposure into a long-term trajectory. Therefore, even with a complete screen detox, recovery may not occur, and autistic traits remain and become entrenched over time. This explains why compromise approaches ("just 5 minutes") often maintain the addictive functioning and why phenotypes stabilize as "irreversible." Recovery, conversely, requires not merely the reduction of stimuli, but a detox and reset of systems (sleep, sensorimotor integration, "cortical awakening," attachment, and language) within a framework that also heals family dynamics – treating the addiction as a holistic ecology.

This concept aligns with the UTAF /Unified Trauma-Addiction Functioning/ model and posits autism as a consequence of audio-visual overstimulation, culminating in a regression toward an intrauterine state as the only "safe place." This specific trauma, characterized by "reversed development," is sustained by specific pathological mechanisms with long-term consequences. (V. R. Manolova & Vezenkov, 2025)

The next wave of digital technologies available to young children is beginning to mass-penetrate society – interactive toys equipped with screens and armed with AI. Unlike previous generations of passive media, these devices simulate bidirectional communication, creating a hyper-responsive yet emotionally artificial loop that may be even more addictive than television or smartphones. This development risks further displacing human caregivers as the primary source of co-regulation, potentially accelerating the onset of screen-induced neurodevelopmental deviations. As AI becomes integrated into the nursery, the distinction between a tool and a social companion blurs, posing unprecedented challenges to the developing social brain.

Conclusion

The historical-cultural model traced in this study demonstrates that autism, as a diagnosed clinical reality, appears late and consistently in societies that first experience media modernity: first acoustic (radio, sound recording, sound cinema), then audio-visual (television), and today – digital-interactive (smartphones, tablets, online video). The recurring "lag" between the mass introduction of radio/television and the first waves of diagnosis cannot be reduced solely to "stimulation," but points to a deeper mechanism: early childhood enters an environment of unidirectional, non-interactive streams that restructure social attention, language, and self-regulation. This explains why early cases are "seen" in elite families: not due to biological privilege, but because technologies and university diagnostics reach them first.

The critical contribution of the contemporary perspective is that media do not act merely as background. When exposure escalates into media addiction, it becomes the organizing center of development – a competing "object of attachment" that systematically displaces the living cycles of mirroring, co-regulation, and social learning. In this mode, phenotypes become entrenched because addiction halts development at a specific stage and "imprints" a functional profile characteristic of the age of onset. In clinical observations, this is described as screen trauma followed by the dominance of compulsive, rigid, and self-soothing cycles, which can gradually become self-sustaining even with minimal or absent screen exposure.

In this sense, everything currently classified as the "autism spectrum" can also be read as a phenotype of audio-visual traumatic addictive functioning: the brain fixates on predictable and high-reward patterns, while social attention and human presence are experienced as too complex, low-rewarding, or even threatening.

Hence follows the practical conclusion: if we view the phenomenon only as "media stimulation," we miss the key element – trauma-addiction as a self-sustaining system that inverts the development not only of the child but also of family dynamics, as well as the capacity for co-regulation on the part of caregivers. Thus, the history of media and the history of autism connect not as a moral panic, but as a model of interaction between the developing brain and the environment: when new technologies cross the threshold of addiction at the earliest age, they can produce enduring autistic trajectories.

References

Aishworiya, R., Magiati, I., Phua, D., Daniel, L. M., Shek, L. P., Chong, Y. S., Gluckman, P. D., Meaney, M. J., & Law, E. C. (2022). Are There Bidirectional Influences Between Screen Time Exposure and Social Behavioral Traits in Young Children? Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 43(6), 362–369. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000001069

Al Moussawi, I., Bendak, L., & Ziab, H. (2024). “Virtual Autism” and Excessive Screen Exposure in Children Aged 0-3 Years: A Cross-sectional Study in the Lebanese Context. International Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 11(4), 116–127. https://doi.org/10.4103/IJPAM.IJPAM_109_24

Ansel, A., Posen, Y., Ellis, R., Deutsch, L., Zisman, P. D., & Gesundheit, B. (2019). Biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): A Meta-analysis. Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal, 10(4), e0021. https://doi.org/10.5041/RMMJ.10375

Asperger, H. (1944). Die „Autistischen psychopathen” im kindesalter. Archiv Für Psychiatrie Und Nervenkrankheiten, 117(1), 76–136.

Berard, M., Peries, M., Loubersac, J., Picot, M.-C., Bernard, J. Y., Munir, K., & Baghdadli, A. (2022). Screen time and associated risks in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders during a discrete COVID-19 lockdown period. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 1026191. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1026191

Chen, J.-Y., Strodl, E., Wu, C., Huang, L.-H., Yin, X.-N., Wen, G.-M., Sun, D.-L., Xian, D.-X., Chen, Y.-J., Yang, G.-Y., & Chen, W.-Q. (2021). Screen time and autistic-like behaviors among preschool children in China. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 26(5), 607–620. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2020.1851034

Child Development Clinic, Paediatric Department, Hospital Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, Khoo, C.-S., Ramachandram, S., & Child Development Clinic, Paediatric Department, Hospital Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. (2022). The Effect of Parent Training Programmes on Screen Time and Social Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 29(6), 146–157. https://doi.org/10.21315/mjms2022.29.6.14

Dong, H.-Y., Wang, B., Li, H.-H., Yue, X.-J., & Jia, F.-Y. (2021). Correlation Between Screen Time and Autistic Symptoms as Well as Development Quotients in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 619994. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.619994

Elkin, N., Mohammed Ashraf, A. K., Kılınçel, O., KılınçeL, Ş., Ranganathan, M., Sakarya, A. K., & Soydan, A. M. (2025). Screens and scars: SEM analysis of the relationship between childhood trauma, emotion regulation, and social media addiction. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1502968. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1502968

Geiger, K., & Sokol, R. (1959). Social Norms in Television-Watching. American Journal of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1086/222659

Harlé, B. (2019). Intensive early screen exposure as a causal factor for symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder: The case for «Virtual autism». Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 17, 100119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2019.100119

Heffler, K. F., Frome, L. R., Garvin, B., Bungert, L. M., & Bennett, D. S. (2022a). Screen time reduction and focus on social engagement in autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study. Pediatrics International, 64(1), e15343. https://doi.org/10.1111/ped.15343

Heffler, K. F., Frome, L. R., Garvin, B., Bungert, L. M., & Bennett, D. S. (2022b). Screen time reduction and focus on social engagement in autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study. Pediatrics International, 64(1), e15343. https://doi.org/10.1111/ped.15343

Heffler, K. F., Frome, L. R., & Gullo, D. F. (2022). Changes in autism symptoms associated with screen exposure: Case report of two young children. Psychiatry Research Case Reports, 1(2), 100059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psycr.2022.100059

Heffler, K. F., & Oestreicher, L. M. (2016). Causation model of autism: Audiovisual brain specialization in infancy competes with social brain networks. Medical Hypotheses, 91, 114–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2015.06.019

Heffler, K. F., Sienko, D. M., Subedi, K., McCann, K. A., & Bennett, D. S. (2020). Association of Early-Life Social and Digital Media Experiences With Development of Autism Spectrum Disorder–Like Symptoms. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(7), 690. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.0230

Hill, M. M., Gangi, D. N., & Miller, M. (2024). Toddler Screen Time: Longitudinal Associations with Autism and ADHD Symptoms and Developmental Outcomes. Child Psychiatry & Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01785-0

Hoshino, Y., Kumashiro, H., Yashima, Y., Tachibana, R., & Watanabe, M. (1982). The Epidemiological Study of Autism in Fukushima-ken. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 36(2), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1819.1982.tb00262.x

Ivanova, V., Mitsova, S., Petrova, T., Manolova, V., & Vezenkov, S. (2025). Full Recovery of a 10-Year-Old Girl with Persistent Screen Addiction Since Age 2 and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Case Report. Nootism, 1, 17–26. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.1.3.3

Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2(3), 217–250.

Kushima, M., Kojima, R., Shinohara, R., Horiuchi, S., Otawa, S., Ooka, T., Akiyama, Y., Miyake, K., Yokomichi, H., Yamagata, Z., Japan Environment and Children’s Study Group, Kamijima, M., Yamazaki, S., Ohya, Y., Kishi, R., Yaegashi, N., Hashimoto, K., Mori, C., Ito, S., … Katoh, T. (2022). Association Between Screen Time Exposure in Children at 1 Year of Age and Autism Spectrum Disorder at 3 Years of Age: The Japan Environment and Children’s Study. JAMA Pediatrics, 176(4), 384. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5778

Manolova, V. R., & Vezenkov, S. R. (2025). Unified Trauma-Addiction Functioning Model. Nootism, 1(4), 4–24. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.1.4.1

Manolova, V., & Vezenkov, S. (2025a). Are Screen-Induced Synesthesia and Screen-induced Cue-Dependent Behavior Contributing Factors in the Misdiagnosis of ASD Among Children with Screen Addiction? Nootism, 1, 11–16. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.1.3.2

Manolova, V., & Vezenkov, S. (2025b). Screen Trauma – Specifics of the Disorder and Therapy in Adults and Children. Nootism, 1(1), 37–51. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.2NCSC.3

Mosa, S., Armishty, F., Haji, M., Ali, M., Ahmed, P., Husain, S., & Suleiman, K. (2024). The Correlation Between Screen Time and the Probability of Developing Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.73231

Must, A., Eliasziw, M., Stanish, H., Curtin, C., Bandini, L. G., & Bowling, A. (2023). Passive and social screen time in children with autism and in association with obesity. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 11, 1198033. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2023.1198033

Ophir, Y., Rosenberg, H., Tikochinski, R., Dalyot, S., & Lipshits-Braziler, Y. (2023). Screen Time and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Network Open, 6(12), e2346775. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.46775

Petrova, S., Manolova, V., & Vezenkov, S. (2025). Reintroducing Screens: Severe Regression and Symptom Aggravation in Children with ASD/Screen Addiction. Nootism, 1(1), 59–65. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.2NCSC.5

Sadeghi, S., Pouretemad, H., Khosrowabadi, R., Fathabadi, J., & Nikbakht, S. (2019). Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for parent training in young children with autism symptoms and excessive screen-time. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 45, 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2019.08.003

Sadeghi, S., Pouretemad, H. R., Badv, R. S., & Brand, S. (2023). Associations between Symptom Severity of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Screen Time among Toddlers Aged 16 to 36 Months. Behavioral Sciences, 13(3), 208. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13030208

Sadeghi, S., Pouretemad, H., & Shervin, R. (2021). Screen-Time Predicts Sleep and Feeding Problems in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms Under the Age of Three. Journal of Applied Psychology, 15(1), 94–73. https://doi.org/10.52547/apsy.2021.221446.1029

Sandtorv, L. B., Fevang, S. K. E., Nilsen, S. A., Bøe, T., Gjestad, R., Haugland, S., & Elgen, I. B. (2018). Symptoms Associated With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorders in School-Aged Children Prenatally Exposed to Substances. Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, 12, 1178221818765773. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178221818765773

Sarfraz, S., Shlaghya, G., Narayana, S. H., Mushtaq, U., Shaman Ameen, B., Nie, C., Nechi, D., Mazhar, I. J., Yasir, M., & Arcia Franchini, A. P. (2023). Early Screen-Time Exposure and Its Association With Risk of Developing Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.42292

Skotalczyk, M. A., Dąbrowska, K. A., Smorońska-Rypel, J., Wilczyński, K. M., & Janas-Kozik, M. (2024). Alexithymia as a Risk Factor for an Internet Addiction in Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 14(3), 669–684. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe14030044

Takahashi, N., Tsuchiya, K. J., Okumura, A., Harada, T., Iwabuchi, T., Rahman, M. S., Kuwabara, H., Nomura, Y., & Nishimura, T. (2023). The association between screen time and genetic risks for neurodevelopmental disorders in children. Psychiatry Research, 327, 115395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115395

Vaillant, G. E. (1963). Twins Discordant for Early Infantile Autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 9(2), 163–167. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1963.01720140059009

Vezenkov, S., & Manolova, V. (2025a). Screen-Induced Pathological Eye-Covering Reflex in Children with Early Screen Addiction. Nootism, 1(3), 5–10. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.1.3.1

Vezenkov, S., & Manolova, V. (2025b). Screen-Induced Pathological Vestibular Reflex: A Specific Marker of Early Screen Addiction. Nootism, 1(2), 5–10. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.1.2.1

Vezenkov, S. R., & Manolova, V. R. (2024). Rethinking Autism: The Screen Addiction Paradigm. Conference Paper: BFE 22nd Meeting, 8–13. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.27970.80328

Vezenkov, S. R., & Manolova, V. R. (2025a). Neurobiology of Autism/Early Screen Addiction Recovery. Nootism, 1, 19–36. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.2NCSC.2

Vezenkov, S. R., & Manolova, V. R. (2025b). Screen Addiction – Biomarkers, Developmental Damage and Recovery. Nootism, 1(1), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.2NCSC.1

Waldman, M., Nicholson, S., & Adilov, N. (2006). Does Television Cause Autism? NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES. https://doi.org/DOI%252010.3386/w12632

Westby, C. (2021). Screen Time and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 73(3), 233–240. https://doi.org/10.1159/000506682

Yuan, G., Zhu, Z., Guo, H., Yang, H., Zhang, J., Zhang, K., Zhang, X., Lu, X., Du, J., Shi, H., Jin, G., Hao, J., Sun, Y., Su, P., & Zhang, Z. (2024). Screen Time and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Comprehensive Systematic Review of Risk, Usage, and Addiction. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06665-z

Zlatkova, K. (2025). Neurofeedback for Brain Dysregulation in Autism: QEEG and swLORETA Case Findings in the Context of Frequent Screen Exposure. Nootism, 1(4), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.64441/nootism.1.4.4

09.09.2025

issue06-september2025