Digital kids

Every morning when my "digital kids" woke up, they insisted on watching "videos".This routine turned into a habit. Sometimes they used to be so much engrossed in their newly discovered entertainment source that for the time being, they forgot what was happening around them. Initially, I participated in those moments of joy but gradually realised that they were getting addicted to not only videos but had started exploring more options in device with their little fingers. This alerted me of long term consequences and how that could lead to exposure to social media in an early age when they should be really spending their leisure time in various physical activities. I decided to limit the usage of digital media although not restricting them completely but how?😕

DIGITAL KIDS

I talked to many parents about their experience on how to deal with this emerging trend of kids. Although the opinions varied some universal facts came to light like:

• It leads to sleep disturbances.

• It hampers learning. 

• Excessive screening time may lead to academic lags.  

• It restricts their imagination and thinking.

• It may lead to weight gain because children keep sitting in one place.

• Lack of movement of body parts; slows down the development of eye-hand coordination and affects eyes. 

• Kids are more concerned about being accepted by social media.

• Sometimes they blindly follow what is viral in media.

• There is always a fear of cyberbullying, exposure to prohibited and illegal content be it in writing or images or videos.

I pondered a lot and concluded that we should not stop children from exploring but we, as parents, can set a limit to that. The most significant aspect is to talk to them what they think. Let us discuss and share our fears and thoughts with them because their participation is must in every action we initiate for them to make things work in a successful manner. Let them know that every day there is an explosion of new technology and we have to pick and choose good and bad content. 

                                       Tips to follow a positive approach

Updating ourselves:  Kids are more internet savvy than we as parents. So we should first update ourselves with technology to guide our children appropriately.

Work together:  We can always chalk out a plan, incorporating our kids, which works best for them. Figure it out, draw it using pen and paper and practice it.

Show parental controls:  Take a lead when figuring out a plan. Monitoring is a must. Tell them to respect their academics. Let them know that technology is crucial for them but how they use matters. It is also important to explain to children why they should have screen time limits. Our role as mentors is also to teach children to be responsible consumers of technology understanding its appropriate and inappropriate uses.

Even Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that technology should not be overused. In an event he said to teenagers"measure your impact on humanity not in likes, but in the lives you touch; not in popularity, but in the people you serve".

Companies like Apple offer features for parental controls. Apple boasts of  "creating powerful products that inspire, entertain, and educate children while also helping parents protect them online by offering intuitive parental controls built right into the operating system". 

Spend quality time with children on screen:  Let us make learning interactive-learn from children and vice versa share whatever knowledge we have acquired, discuss with them what they see. Parents should try to spend some time together watching T.V. or even funny videos. We should encourage kids to explore unknown but with a check on the content.

Spend quality time with children away from the screen:  We should spend quality time with children away from digital devices too-taking them to walks, outing, picnic, engaging them in regular physical activities-playing outdoor games, pursuing yoga, going to the park, meeting people in person, encouraging them to participate in offscreen events and competitions like musical events environmental activities, dance, storytelling and painting competitions. Learning an instrument or any creativity will keep them busy off screen. It would also expose them to diverse arts and gain practical experience.The focus should be on Experiential learning. 

Make them use technology for  growth:  Let them be aware of  how they can use technology to help others or for a good cause, to teach underprivileged, to develop educational apps which may benefit them and others. We can always motivate them to learn the art of using digital devices to take good photographs, to make video clips; in nutshell to teach them friendly use of digital mediums.

I have been following these few basic steps and am confident that many parents or guardians have better ideas to guide kids.😊

Let us check ourselves in which category we fall?

1. "Yes" to digital kids
2. "Yes" to digital kids with monitoring
3. "No" to digital kids

I cheer up "Yes" to digital kids with monitoring.🙌

Please provide your feedback in the comment section below.