Cure for Child's Obsession with Gadgets

Jessy’s tiny little fingers swiftly moving on the smartphone, swiping through photos, watching educational/entertainment videos and then quickly navigating back to play her favorite video game. The 3-year-old has already mastered the art of operating a smartphone. When her mom tries to take away the phone from her, she started playing all kinds of tantrums and then ultimately it’s some other gadget that makes her calm down again. More or less the same situation can be seen in every household today. It is not a surprising fact that today’s kids started using gadgets even before they learn to walk or talk. All their entertainment revolving around gadgets/screens whether it may be watching a cartoon show on television or playing a video game on tablet, laptop or smartphone. There is no doubt that today’s kids are over exposed to gadgets than ever before. Prolonged exposure to these screens may have negative effects on kids behavioral, emotional and social skills. Managing child’s use of screen time has become a major concern to all the parents.

Not to offense, but we parents are the ones who first introduce gadgets to the kids. We give gadgets to quickly feed them, to keep them engaged and to make them quiet when we have some work. Even I do it with my child quite often. After all, exposing kid to the gadgets is not a bad idea at all as we are living in the information saturated digital world. Education has become more fun and interactive and our kids are learning the basic education, life skills and values in a more fun and interactive way at a very young age than ever before with the development of visual aids and interactive tools/apps. Most of the schools now a days are going digital and encouraging gadgets as main tool for education. So if we do not let our kids to use gadgets and technology, they would lag far behind from their peers and cannot survive in this competitive world. Absolutely there is no doubt that these gadgets are helping the kids in learning new information, getting exposed to new ideas and improving their cognitive skills.  Just like a coin has two sides, excessive and improper use of gadgets will have negative effects on children. So instead of discouraging kids from using the gadgets, we need to teach and develop certain self-discipline screen time rules for kids to make best use of gadgets to their needs rather than being controlled by them.  

Certain rules to limit and have fruitful screen time:
1.  Develop certain screen time rules such as when, what and how long to watch and strictly abide to them. For example, allow your kid to watch his/her favorite cartoon show only after finishing homework and having enough physical activity.
2. Young children love playing with gadgets. Explain the importance and use of gadgets as education tools rather than playing tools. Always encourage kids to play outdoors with friends.
3. Do not use gadgets as pacifiers. Instead have them read stories, do some craft activity and play board games together. This will not only help to form a strong bond between parents and kids but also for kids to understand that gadgets are not the only alternatives for parents to pacify them.
4. Hobbies are the best way to take off your kid from the screens. Encourage your kid to develop a hobby like reading books, drawing etc. You may also encourage your kid to help you in any simple household chores.
5. Always try to accompany your kid when he/she is watching anything on gadgets and keep discussing what they have been watching and try to reinforce them in real time by showing examples. For example, if your child is watching a video that teaches him/her to identify shapes, ask him/her to identify various shapes in your room.
6. For young kids who started browsing internet for educational purpose, encourage them to use search engines designed for kids like www.kiddle.co, which blocks inappropriate content for the kids and have them watch videos on youtubekids channel rather than regular youtube.
7. Teach all the internet safety rules to the teenagers who started using social media. Do not give them laptops instead ask them to use a PC and keep it in a common area where you can have an eye what's going on.

In the end, it’s not only about limiting the child’s use of screen time but most importantly to teach them the correct way of using and make the best use of gadgets and technology rather than simply getting addicted to them.