Digital devices offer so many benefits to us in the way that we can communicate with each other. In an instant find out anything that we might have an interest in, or simply book tickets for a concert, even see the relatives in Countries far from Ireland in real time, as we speak to them. But this technology has brought some negative behaviours out in both Adults and Children.
You may have on occasion been unable to escape the glow of the screen as you looked over your Social Media page or text friends or family. Outside of the bad posture we all seem to be developing from leaning over in to the device, for many they just cannot put it down. While Screen Addiction is not a recognised disorder, for many it is a reality that is impacting their daily lives.
This really becomes an issue for parents who are attempting to discourage the overuse of devices with their own children. Parents should to take the approach of Heal Thyself first. A child will never listen to a parent who displays bad example when it comes to spending all their own time with their face buried in the device. We have even had stories recounted to us from parents who are unable to rise out of the bed in the morning, unless all of the Social Media pages have been accessed and then on to the News sites.
Some Advice for Parents
- Parents and children should limit the time that they spend on a device to no more than 2 hours per day
- Children under 2 years of age should be given access little to a digital device, the devices are NOT Digital Babysitters
- A child should never be permitted to take a digital device to their room where it can be used for an unsupervised
- Parents should enforce a ban on digital devices at meal times and up to 2 hours before bed time as the Blue light from the device can interfere with sleeping patterns
- There should be a central charging point in the home for all devices at the same time, to prevent the zombie family experience of everyone sitting in a room face down in a device
- Parents need to show good example when it comes to their use of devices
- Most importantly, get active and get out. Leave the devices at home for a few hours and rediscover the art of being social and conversation. The necessity for a Digital Detox, time spent away from being connected and in an online world consistently is essential for both parents and children
- You will find that after periods of no access to technology, children read more, play more, interact with each other more, communicate more, are better able to cope with stressful situations on their own, it can even help reduce social anxiety. At present we are not able to find any advantage of sitting in front of, or with a device all day. If this changes, we will update you !!!