Child Addiction to Electronics

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Secondly, the body goes into a “fight-or-flight” mode as the brain responds to the stress hormones that are released as they play, even if the games are found enjoyable by the person doesn’t mean it is good for their brain. This has been found to negatively impact sleep and learning. http://leighbrainandspine.com/adhd/is-electronic-screen-syndrome-real

Particular:

As we already discussed that we are focusing on kid’s addiction on electronics and now we will try to find out some solution of this particular problem. Kids are spending more time with electronics than they should be, we are pretty much concern of this part but do we all know why? One of the main reasons is that we the parents allowed them to do so. There are so many reasons that parents prefer these devices such as convenient to use, learning device, allow parents to do their household work, easy to feed the young child etc. We should keep in our mind the main purpose of a childhood. Children have their whole life for learning. There is no need to learn A B C or colors in a very young age when he should spent his time in playing backyard, passing a very good time with parents, learning from face to face interaction and become a social human being. How could we determine that our child is addicted to electronics?

- Does your child become angry in a very little thing or restless or irritable when there is no screen around him?

- Does he like to spend time with the device alone and try to skip the family time?

- Is your child not ready to accept the time limit of using the electronics?

- Does the child loosing appetite and not having enough sleep due to this electronics?

- Does he prefer to spend time with electronics rather than playing with siblings?

These are some alarming sign of your child. We need to take this situation very seriously and should have proper plan to move forward. One day you made up your mind to take some control over the screening device that your child is using and just take it away from their hand or tell them straightly not to touch them, it’s not going to work this way. It’s much easier to put control in an early stage. Some of the solution we are providing that might be helpful for the parents.

- First of all kids learn from their parents, so we should control ourselves if we want to put control on our kids.

- Our child is continually engaging themselves as we are not providing them as much time as they needed. So, first of all we need to manage time for our child.

- Spending digital time together could be helpful. Watching video with your infant or playing games with kids could be a very good family time.

- No TV in bedrooms. TV should be placed in family room so everyone can enjoy together.

- We should try to engage ourselves with the activities that our child likes to do.

- If it’s not possible to take off the entire screening device, just try to give it to him as a reward and try to get him some of his important work done.

- We can place the desktop in an open area rather than the kid’s bad room so we can monitor their using habit.

- Changing the computer can be helpful so kids don’t have access to computer all the time.

- Involving kids in games or voluntary work could be helpful.

There is no other alternative of spending much more time with our kids but now a day this seems the most difficult work to do.

People:

Before age 2, children should not be exposed to any electronic media, the pediatrics academy maintains, because “a child’s brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens.” Older children and teenagers should spend no more than one or two hours a day with entertainment media, preferably with high-quality content, and spend more free time playing outdoors, reading, doing hobbies and “using their imaginations in free play,” the academy recommends. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/screen-addiction-is-taking-a-toll-on-children/?_r=0

- Go digital together

Join your kids in digital spaces as another way to spend time together. Always co-view with infants and toddlers, but you can also play video games with your kids. Ask your teens to walk you through their online world.

- Keep digital-free zones at home

“Even the most responsible media use can’t substitute for traditional play and interaction between people,” says Dr. Lindenberg. “I know from personal experience that electronics can become addicting for some children and that some children become moody and withdrawn with excessive use. It is extremely helpful for families to establish baseline limits on media use and to make electronics off limits at certain times, such as during meals.”

- Be picky

Not all games and apps are created equally, even if they’re branded as “educational.” Skyping with Grandma for 20 minutes isn’t the same as zoning out with Minecraft or YouTube Smosh clips for 20 minutes. Quality counts! The more interaction, the more learning. Passively watching videos doesn’t help toddlers acquire language, for instance. Not sure what’s ok? Common Sense Media reviews kids’ apps, games and programs for appropriateness.

- Communicate boundaries

Social media can help teens develop identity, and regular online interaction with peers is totally fine. But if your teen is sexting or posting violent content, it’s a huge red flag. They should be assessed for other risk factors.

- Walk the walk

Model healthy device use for your kids by reserving part of your own day for device-free experiences. When possible, offer your kids the gift of your full attention.

- Prepare for mistakes

Just like in real life, your kids are going to make mistakes as digital citizens. Use these as teachable moments so that they can learn and grow. “The best way to prevent teens from engaging in inappropriate social media behaviors is to maintain good communication with them and teach proper online etiquette,” Dr. Lindenberg says. “Parents need to be open minded and themselves

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