How Exactly are Smartphones Affecting Our Children?
Technology has made our lives more efficient and a lot easier. But as a parent, it has now become crucial to be concerned about how the gadgets and devices like smartphones are affecting our children. It is becoming common for the kids to have a mobile device of their own, hence, it has now become imperative for the parents to know about the negative impacts that a smartphone could have on the growth of their child.
1. Parent-child Relationship is Affected
No doubt, smartphones have their own added advantages but at the same time, they also lay a negative impact on the bonding between a child and parent. The connectivity with the use of smartphone cannot be compared to the connection that is required between a parent and a child.
When children are at the stage of growth, parents need to work upon establishing a healthy relationship with their child. Smartphones are merely speedy gadgets that can offer instant access to various available answers. In the long run, this could lead your kids to make wrong choices.
2. Contribute to High Levels of Depression and Anxiety
The children that are old enough to use tablets and smartphones and to connect with other people on the social networking platforms may get negatively affected by various things that they experience and come across. Since they are on the learning stage and the world facts are new to them, it is common for them to equate themselves to their friends on the social media.
Consequently, they might waste a lot of energy in impressing others. Moreover, they may start investing more of their mind to get enough comments or likes. This may push them towards anxiety and depression.
3. Affects their Learning Ability
Smartphones divert the attention of a child. This might prove out to be detrimental to the social-economic development and brain development of your kid. According to the researchers, the use of interactive screen could impair development of the skills in a child needed for science and math.
4. They can Cause Pains and Aches in Different Parts of the Body
The damage caused by smartphones also affects the sedentary lifestyle of the child. It is for this reason parents should take initiative and encourage their children to take breaks on frequent intervals and make themselves physically active. Parents should also about the importance of right body positioning when using smartphones.
5. Affects Eyes Adversely
Looking at the screen of a phone for long time puts undue stress on their eyes. They result in redness, itching and eventually children end up needing corrective lenses at a very young age.
Smartphones and other electronic gadgets emit harmful rays that can affect the eyesight of children adversely. Hence, it is important to encourage them to involve in some kind of physical activity so that the chances of damage is eliminated. Ask you kids to lift their smartphone up higher on order to promote a straightforward gaze. Alternatively, parents can also ask their kids to focus their gaze downwards at the screen. This position minimizes the need of tilting heads when using smart gadgets.
6. Impairs Brain Function and Structure
Smartphones have brought a huge transformation to the world. We need to be very careful and watch how our kids use these gadgets because they are much more susceptible to experience problems that they can’t handle possibly. It is the responsibility of the parents to educate their children about the things related to the use of mobile device.
In addition, they should stay conscious of the habits of their kids and teach them the art of maintaining the right balance when using smartphones.
The Concluding Word
Spending over three hours per day on a “smart device” is enough to cause social and emotional problems. Moreover, exposure to the games played through smartphone apps leads to increased risk of concentration and other additional problems.
