An addiction is a chronic disorder characterized by the compulsive use of a substance or engagement in a behavior despite harmful consequences. Addiction can have a profound impact on a person's life, affecting their relationships, job, health, and overall well-being.
Are you letting your child use electronic devices during mealtimes or during their free time? Is your child ignoring you when they are on electronic devices?
If so, you are not alone, in pacifying children with electronics. This thing has become common over the years and as parents, most of us are guilty of becoming increasingly reliant on our phones and computers. We rely on them for communicating, working, paying bills, entertainment, and many other needs. But there is a difference between reliance on electronic devices and addiction to electronic devices.
A survey conducted in January 2018 of 1024 parents with children younger than 18 has shown that 47% of them felt that their child was addicted to their mobile device. That's almost half of the parents out there. According to research, spending too much time in front of the screen has been linked to lack of sleep, speech delays, and poor social skills. But there's a bigger issue here. Do you know that too much screen time can also affect the brain. It can alter the very structure of your brain. This means poor concentration and weaker memory, slower information processing and weaker impulse control. These effects are particularly worrying when it comes to children as their brains are still developing. In short, excessive screen time will impair the brain's structure and function and much of the damage occurs in the brain's frontal lobes. And that's not all, too much screen time will affect their behaviour too. Ever notice your child throwing tantrums whenever you reject or take away their time on electronic devices? A study conducted by the University of Alberta compared five-year-old who spent two or more hours a day on a screen, with their peers who had 30 minutes or less of screen time a day. The results showed that the five-year-old, who spent more time on their screens, were five times more likely to be reported by their parents as annoying kid. Symptoms of "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)" when children spend too much time on their screens, they are more likely to act impulsively and make poorer decisions. So do you realize how serious this addiction is now?
Here are some ideas for you to start helping your child reduce their screen time.
Model healthy electronic use
Parents, you're the role model for your kids. So, the first solution starts with you. Before you binge-watch your favourite Netflix, series or scroll through your phone remember that you are setting an example for your kids with your own time spent in front of this screen. If you spend most of your time at home looking at your phone or electronic devices, expect your children to do the same too. So the first and most important tip is to minimize the mobile utility to the best possible low level as we can.
Screen time rules
Come together and creating screen time rules as a family conversation is a way to go. Think about where screens are a good fit such as travel on sick days on the weekends or when necessary. Of course, rules are negotiable as kids get older so check in to talk about what's working and what's not.
Encourage a non-electronic hobby
With a wide range of apps, games, devices, and content readily available, it's easy for kids to become reliant on electronics for entertainment. Encourage them to seek out and get involved in activities that don't need a screen. Find alternatives like drawing, reading a book, or engaging in sports, or musical activities. Even when your child creates a habit of reading while eating it is still better than letting them use their devices and eat. It is a good habit to Make screen time only a privilege.
Neuro training activities
This is probably one of the easiest and fastest ways to help kids with their screen time. Instead of watching cartoons on YouTube, let them do neuro training. What is neuro training? Neuro training is a way of strengthening cognitive skills by improving neural connections in the brain so that it grasps and processes incoming information better. Remember that frontal lobe injuries can greatly affect attention span concentration memory, slower information processing and weaker impulse control. Well, the best way to treat these is to engage neuroplasticity through neuro training. To put it in simpler terms neuro training will engage the brain to modify its connections.
Rewire itself
When that happens, it helps to strengthen areas of the brain if some functions are lost or in decline. Here's an example, If you injure your leg, you must go for physiotherapy. Then slowly recover and then go to the gym to train your legs to strengthen them. In this case, it's the frontal lobe that is damaged by too much screen time. To counter this, you need to train their brain to strengthen it. So what are the examples of neuro-training activities? They involve memory games, concentration games, and problem-solving games. And the best thing is that they are all games that your kids will enjoy. Help your children foster a healthy relationship with technology and screen time set boundaries revolving around the use of devices and you will have a mentally healthy child.