My kid doesn’t stop using her iPad…

I met my friend for lunch the other day, and she brought her daughter, Aadhya along. Aadhya, 3, was hooked to her iPad watching ‘Cocomelon’. When the food arrived, and her mother tried to take the iPad away, she started screaming, crying and refused to eat her food. Her mother had no choice, but to give her the iPad back. She then explained to me that this happens every time, and that it is just easier to give in, rather than discipline her. Aadhya spends most of her time awake watching and playing games on the iPad. She barely interacts with her parents or anybody else. Her mom is concerned about her well-being when she starts school after 3 months. This made me think about how dependent we all are on such gadgets which caused me to research the same online and the results were shocking.

Over the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in popularity and portability of technology of all kinds like the iPads or tablets, kindle or other e-readers, etc. Research has shown that watching educational content for a little while on any electronic device does not pose a risk for children’s social emotional competencies and that they might actually benefit from such content. Parents, therefore, might find it easier to stick their children in front of different kinds of electronic devices, as it becomes easier to manage them. This gives an opportunity for children to explore the Internet and access different kinds of content. Over the years, the time spent on electronic devices has increased from 1–2 hours a day to 4–5 hours a day. This excessive use of technology leads to a sensory overload, which could further cause a decline in cognitive development. Recent research has shown that increased screen time and less reading time has been associated with poor language development, word recognition and cognitive control. Daily screen use among younger children affects sleep onset, duration and nighttime awakenings, which in turn is associated with brain changes. This could further lead to cognitive impairments in elderly people and cause Alzheimer’s(Small et.al., 2020). Children throw tantrums as they find it difficult to take no for an answer and do not understand how to interact and adjust with other children. They also cannot express themselves efficiently as they don’t understand what they are feeling and have difficulty establishing and maintaining positive relationships with others. So what can parents do to improve this situation?

Emotional development in children takes place within the first 10 years, and a major role is played by the relationships children have with their primary caregivers. In an ideal situation (healthy environment), children learn to communicate their needs to their parents and eventually begin to imitate and identify with their caregivers’ values. These early interactions with their parents enable children to develop social, emotional, ethical and cognitive skills. They learn how to manage their frustrations, modulate their own behavior, and form positive relationships with others. The following are some strategies parents can use to regulate children’s screen time:

Restrict screen time: Parents can empower the child to make a choice about how they utilize their gadgets and the time spent on these gadgets. This enables children to become more disciplined, mindful of how they spend their time and the type of content they watch. As the screen time reduces, children will have more time to understand, learn and manage their own emotions.

Monitor the content: Research has shown that children who watch violent content or play violent games, are more aggressive and frustrated as compared to other children. Therefore, parents must constantly monitor and restrict children’s access to such content. The more educational or positive the content, the more emotionally and socially competent the children become.

Modelling: Children tend to learn by imitating their parents. So, when they see their parents use their gadgets all the time, it provides justification to children, thereby encouraging them to use their devices even more. Therefore, parents must restrict their screen time in front of their children.

Talk about your feelings: While consuming content, parents can pause and talk to children about how they feel about a particular scene or situation that they just witnessed and validate their response by sharing one’s own feelings as well. When parents talk to children about feelings, it encourages them to share their feelings as well thereby enabling them to become more aware of their feelings.

Engage with other children: Engaging with other kids by organizing playdates , helps them learn to adjust and behave amicably with others.

Being ‘present’ for your children: Parents need to be intentional and mindful as they are connecting with their children. This can be done by setting fixed times everyday for reading books, singing songs, dancing and playing games.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the above mentioned ideas may sound inconvenient or impractical. However, excessive screen time does have long term ramifications, especially with regards to social-emotional competencies which need to be addressed as soon as possible. It is therefore crucial for parents to take the first step and make their children as socially and emotionally competent as possible.

If you are a parent or a teacher interested in understanding strategies to regulate your children’s use of gadgets and want to engage children with hands-on activities, we have resources to support you in your journey.

Do visit us here: http://www.learning-curve-foundation.org/

References:

Aldimasi, H. H., Miqdady, A. M., Elsori, D., & Nazir, A. (2018). Impact of Gadgets on Children’s Development. International Journal on Life Science and Bioengineering, 5(2), 1–7.

Khan, Sarfraz & Qutoshi, Sadruddin. (2021). Use of Technological Gadget and its Effects on Children at Agah Walidain Program and Beyond during Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown.

LaHayne, S. P. (2020, April 2). 10 Ways Parents Can Bring Social-Emotional Learning Home. EdSurge News. https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2020-04-02-10-ways-parents-can-bring-social-emotional-learning-home

Madhava, Rema & Bhuvaneshwari, D. (2021). Impact of Intervention in Gadget Usage Among Children. Journal of Women’s Health. 198–201.

P, R. (2022, June 2). Impact of Television (TV) on Children — Positive and Negative Effects. FirstCry Parenting. https://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/impact-of-television-t-v-on-children-know-about-positive-and-negative-effects/

Rothwell, J. (2019, August 2). You Are What You Watch? The Social Effects of TV. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/upshot/social-effects-television.html

Small, G. W., Lee, J., Kaufman, A., Jalil, J., Siddarth, P., Gaddipati, H., Moody, T. D., & Bookheimer, S. Y. (2020). Brain health consequences of digital technology use. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 22(2), 179–187. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2020.22.2/gsmall

Social Emotional Learning is Essential for Child Development-Here’s How to Teach It at Home. (2021, March 24). Parents. https://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/social/social-emotional-learning-is-essential-for-child-development-heres-how-to-teach-it-at-home/