Is your son turning fretful and restless of late? Does he throw tantrum when you ask him to surrender his gadgets? Or is your daughter refusing to eat without playing her favorite game on the iPad? Do you find their concentration suffering and grades falling consistently? If you have answered “Yes” to even one of these questions, the chances are that your child must be suffering from gadget addiction already. You need to help your child find the right balance to embrace the real and virtual worlds.
Does this look familiar parents?
Most of our kids Play-Grounds are virtual than Real. We cannot deny the fact that they are getting addicted to the electronic gadgets
It has become a very common problem with many parents these days. Technology is very informative and entertaining for sure, but it has equal health effects on our child. Read the effects of Internet addiction on teens and tweens. Nowadays, children as young as three and four are queuing outside the spine and physiotherapy clinics to deal with aches and pains triggered by obsessive use of gadgets. The rise in musculoskeletal problems are mainly caused by too much addiction of gadgets.
A research by Services for wholesome Use of expertise (SHUT), a gadget de-dependancy centre at the national Institute of psychological health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), discovered 70% of respondents — aged between 13 and 17 years in colleges in Bengaluru, were hooked on devices. A majority of them have been on gaming or social network websites like FB and Instagram.
Rahul R, a prime ranker at school until classification 8 who almost dropped out of faculty because of his obsession with video games. He would become very aggressive and would destroy things if he was asked to submit his device.A focused therapy that integrated family members spending extra time with him, train and outside of video games helped wean him away from video games
If you are looking to ‘DIGITALLY DETOX’ your child. These few things may help you.
No Gadgets at meal time:
We want our children to eat no matter what. So, the easy way is to engage them in watching something and make them eat. Sometimes they don’t even know what they are eating. This is the first change we need to make. To be practical, it’s hard to make our little ones sit on a dining table and eat silently. So, instead of putting gadgets before them, engage them in some arts n crafts or toys. For older kids use the old technique that our parents use to do, tell them stories.
Maintain proper sleeping routine:
Proper sleep is very important for the overall development of children.To develop a proper sleeping routine it should be made a rule not to carry any electronic devices to the bed. You can also lock their device remotely with Parental Control App like Nischint. Initially, kids may show a lot of resistance, but gradually they will develop the habit to sleep without a Phone or IPad.
Engage them in some sports:
Our kids get habituated to gadgets only because of boredom. Swimming, playing soccer, cycling is good physical activities. Ask them to go out and play with the other kids in the neighborhood or society. This is a real good way to diverting our kids to real playground rather than playing games in Phone and it will also help them make new friends.They will love to observe things happening around. They will develop ways to think and understand everything practically.
Prepare and follow a time table:
Set time for studies, set time to use gadgets, set time for outdoor activities. Set a time for everything. It may take sometime to adjust, but be strict about this.
Priya Kaur, a mother of two kids, aged 9 and 12 years, has a fixed 30-45 minutes screen time that her children have access to. This includes gadgets and television.
Gadgets cannot be avoided or discounted in today’s day and age. However, the key to dealing with this is learning to use them moderately. Get ParentalControl apps to manage your child’s device. Nischint- UNICEF referred India’s only parental control app helps parents to manage screen time, schedule apps, monitor social media etc. There is a greater need for the gadget-free time where families and kids interact and participate in fun-filled activities.
Involve Yourself:
This is a very important aspect. As parents, we are overloaded with work and don’t find quality time to spend with our kids and we try to divert them by giving gadgets to get things going. Overtime they get addicted to them and we regret it. We can avoid this by spending some time with kids. Play board games with them, ask them about what they did in school. This way we can spend more time with our kids.
Parul, a mother of two boys, has set rules for gadget time. “At home, my children have access to the laptop only on weekends for about 30 minutes.” Parul and her husband consciously take holidays to resorts which are without TV and Wifi.They travel without gadgets and that is the best personal attention children can enjoy.
Always remember – Our kids are our future. Our child needs us, Gadget cannot replace us.
Nischint is a parental control solution whose prime focus is to create a safe digital environment for children today. We help children learn how to use their devices responsibly and also provide parents with the ability to monitor their child’s lives online. With Nischint parents can schedule app and device usage, so that children can focus while they are at school/studying/playing and they get to experience the best of both worlds.
Reference: Rediff.com
