Being parents if you ask even your own kids and teens that how social media or digital world are affecting their lives, am sure they will side with Rosen. Raising generation tech is reportedly feel closer to their friends online and of real–life just because of the digital revolution that enables to connect with the wide variety of the people having quite common interests. However, despite the generation is in love with their digital lives, yet we cannot answer the looming question about their long-term engagement with the digital world and about their digital habits. We may have to work harder and harder for further few years the good and the bad and scary effects of the digital life of our children and its effects on their health. In the meantime, it may be a reasonable viewpoint to say that young kids and teen are affected positively and some negatively. But!
Some circles digital lives of children have got pretty bad rap
The contemporary smartphones, online video games, movies, television, and cyberspace can be blamed fully for childhood obesity, ADD/ADHD to sleep disorders, classroom temper tantrums, teen’s sexual behaviors, sexting, watching porn and blind dates. On the other hand, the digital world of the children has its positive side too: providing a cell phone device to your children in hand along with the mama’s number on speed–dial put parent’s worries to rest. Young kids and teens are dictated to do their homework on computer machines and they do research for their studies sitting in the libraries.
Believe it or not! Digital life of children has migrated playground to digital ones
Yeah! It’s a bitter truth whether you like it or not being parents, most of the social development of your kids and teens that usually grow in schools or in neighborhoods have migrated to the instant messaging apps and website walls such as Facebook, Yahoo, Line, Vine, Tinder, WhatsApp, Snapchat and plenty of others alike in the form of text messages, chat conversations, audio and video conversations, shared media such as photos and videos, news feeds and Voice messages. “News headlines groan the loss of a “real human connection” while most of the other happy to have opportunities for communication and digital connectivity provided by the digital world and media.
“The subject is debatable and a number of people in this debate has very strong opinions, Daren Janzen, a psychologist at OHSU’s Doernbecher Children’s hospital said that. “We should not scare from the technology, but on the other hands we should think wisely and have to decide how our kids and teens should interact with it”, he further added that.
Parents involved too in thumbs exercises
Who you blame! When background media use–that is parents have become obsessed with the media and digital world and remain distracted from interacting with the children. It is one of the most serious issues and difficult and hectic job for parents of the children who would rather go for an exercise of their thumbs on social messaging apps, video games and in IM’s calls. “The generation tech is the victim of obesity and plenty of health issues due to use of excessive texting on smartphones technology and remains isolated in their digital lives. So, the health’s experts encourage parents to spend most of the time with their children in a conversation and make their children for free playschool, person to person social interaction and for physical exercises.
Ultimate health issues due to the digital life of children
Obesity is the common factor that has been found among digital live lovers and attention deficit disorders are the hot-button issues for parents. Parents are worried about the relationship of their children with the technology and health issues. ADHD is a deficit of self –regulation, the affected kids don’t concentrate on other important activities of their lives and it would be the very tough job for parents to pulling the digital media obsessed children towards the real–live challenges. Actually, it may not bring your child to the medical attention, but to pull digital life obsessed children from attention jumping habits. Instead of focusing on their studies, obsessed children jump from one text message received from friends and to other, from one video to another video and posting or sharing stuff on one social messaging apps to another.
How to parent a child in an increasing tech-saturated world?
Child parenting is the tough job for parents especially for single moms or fathers and has become tougher in the increasingly technology-saturated world where you have to know the inside of digital life of your children to prevent health issues. You have to navigate attention of your children: the ins and outs of instantly changing communication devices and tools such as smartphones and computer machines connected to the internet and social media apps and sites and even the entertainment options. You have to put restrictions and access on the age-inappropriate material and screen time on TV as well. Parents have to control when they should permit their children to stare at their screens and how much time they should spend with the new media and technology. However, parents should know the tactics to lemmatize their children digital life. Today we are going to provide you dispensing useful advice to curious and worried parents.
Work gradually in the digital parenting of your children
The generation tech is used to of spending almost seven hours a day to have some sort of entertainment using social media via cell phones, computers and gadgets and they seem virtually unavoidable. Parents need to have control over the bulk of the time kids and teens spend with digital technology. Parents need to unplug their devices from the internet when they are spending time with their kids and teens and parents should avoid the consumption of media in all terms to give a quality interaction time to the children. However, a complete media controller at home, your kids may have fulfilled their needs when you are not behaving as the helicopter moms. So, they will have additional exposure outside the house such as in schools and them still miss real-life adventures.
Content is the crucial factor
Content is the key factor that needs to address and parents should be vigilant about small doses of age-appro
priate content. Put your devices on parental control and don’t let your children get access to the social apps that they are not eligible of and use the contemporary cell phones that empower you to set privacies on certain content that can exploit your children. However, you can let your children movies that show rating systems and same is the case with the movies.
Lead your kids with an example
The easy way to make your children for healthy interaction is to set some ground roles in your house and all the family member need to follow. Tell your kids and even parents themselves all of them would not use the cell phone, social media, emails and text messages especially at a dinner table. No one allowed tuning the TV. However, at the certain time of period allow all of your children for the digital world and guide your kids about online privacy, cyber dangers especially about stalkers and sexual predators when you are having a healthy conversation with your kids and teens. Parents should also avoid watching a type of content watching in the presence of their children.
Screen-Free Zones
Parents can make screen-free zones in the house and can easily get to know how much time their kids and teens have spent on the screen of the cell phones and computer machines and on TV. However, it also helps parents to know they don’t have access to the inappropriate content. Always provide your kids desktop computer machines especially when they are in tween age and lock the room where you have put the computer devices. Don’t put a screen even at your car’s back seat where your kids and teens are used to of staring the screen closer their eyes. However, cutting your children from social media and other media sites may bring trouble for children from peer sides. All you need to do is to make your kid’s mind how much is too much when it comes to the use of digital media and how they should use it.
Conclusion:
Young kids who are used to violent content usually found increased in their aggression when they are not a screen. Too much restriction on the screen time is not good also, so show some flexibility in digital parenting. Parents just need to create a sense in children’s mind that too much access to the digital life can create issues for their health and behavior.
Sources:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-moment-youth/201211/generation-tech-the-good-bad-and-scary https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/2013/5/2/technology-and-childrens-health-may-2013
