Could an excessive amount of tech time result in unruly behavior and even worse along with your child?
An Iowa teen recently ran away from home when his parents took away his cellphone.
As reported by most major outlets the 13-year-old was found dead some five days later.
While nobody will ever know what truly caused the death of this child, and several other issues could have impacted his behavior, taking away his cellphone was actually a contributing factor to an argument between the kid and his parents.
Today many children have gotten hooked on their tech devices at an early age. Many parents are giving their kids iPads and tablets at age 2, some even younger.
Studies are starting to seem indicating the issues related to tech addiction.
An excessive amount of device time can result in a slow development of social skills and an absence of communication. It will possibly have long run physical effects too with brain development and related issues.
Listed below are five helpful hints to scale back tech dependency and increase healthy conversations.
1. Give very young children blocks and toys, not devices. The very best toys will engage a baby’s senses, spark their imaginations and encourage them to interact with others. As they grow, infants can use toys to explore object permanence and cause and effect relationships. In addition they need objects reminiscent of blocks to assist construct motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
2. Parents have to put their devices away and set a very good example. Society demands may be rugged but mom and pa have to stay off their devices and discuss with their kids. Create device free times around dinner and later. Engage along with your kids by playing board games and other activities that encourage conversation. Work related messages can all the time be answered after the kids have gone to bed.
3. Consider giving your child/teenager a flip phone slightly than a smartphone. A flip phone encourages more conversations, and discourages web access and app use. If it’s essential to provide your child with a phone since you do not have a land line, and your child stays home alone, or you have to pick your child up from school or practice and wish to have the ability to speak, a flip phone will suffice.
4 Maintain “device boundaries” between your child and their friends so it doesn’t dominate their life. Whenever you schedule playdates, sleepovers, and social outings… ask the parent what their device policy is and respect it. Don’t allow your child to bring their device to a friend’s house if that family has a tool free policy. If it’s essential to reach your child, obtain the parent phone number to contact your child.
5. Learn the way to limit screen time and block content. If you’ve concerns about technology, but to not the purpose where you’re feeling it should be taken away all together, educate yourself on the perfect products in the marketplace to dam content, implement screen cut-off dates, etc. Some good apps for this are Circle, and Bark.