Children spend all day glued to their phones and don’t even want to eat without cartoons or games. The attempts to pick up a smartphone or tablet lead to screams and tears. Every day is full of nerves and whims, from which there is no escape. Is it familiar? Do not worry, although dependence on gadgets does really exist, it is not always dangerous. In this article, we will analyze how dangerous this addition may be for children, how and whether it is worth controlling the time on the phone, as well as where the parental control zone should take place.
Children’s addiction to mobile gadgets is a global issue
The experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics, with the help of special studies, have found out that in most cases, a child spends almost 7 hours a day playing games or watching videos on their smartphones. English scientists also talked to British parents about this. It turned out that over 60% of parents are very worried about the fact that their child spends a lot of time with the phone in their hands. Of these, almost half of the children communicate using messengers, even if the parent or the other interlocutor is in the next room.
Although this problem has not been studied in this way in our country, the situation is no better here. And now, the experiences like “where is my child” were also supplemented with concerns about who the child communicates with on the network and whether there is an addition to the devices.
Why are gadgets dangerous for children?
Someone may say that if you know where the child is by giving him or her a smartphone or tablet, it means one can be sure that he or she will not get into trouble, will not get into a fight, and so on. But the fact is that the constant use of mobile devices is also fraught with bad consequences. Many pediatricians, when communicating on this topic, recommend reducing the amount of time spent on gadgets to a minimum. And if this is not done, the children may get depression, developmental retardation in comparison with their peers, insomnia, and even problems with building social ties with the other children. In addition to all of this, due to low mobility, the child may become obese.
This problem is perfectly revealed in the experiment of researchers held at the University of Virginia. For this, the scientists selected 60 four-year-old children and divided them into 3 groups. The first 20 watched cartoons, the other 20 children watched educational TV shows, and the rest simply drew without additional auxiliary backgrounds. As a result, the children who only watched cartoons after 9 minutes passed the standard test for intellectual abilities worse than children who watched TV shows and lagged very far behind those who only drew.
But in addition to the backwardness in development, unfortunately, there is another equally serious problem. The fact that children are highly dependent on their devices can be used by different attackers. It can be cyberbullying, various types of fraud and blackmail, harassment, or even sexual violence or suicidal games, leading to tragic consequences. Of course, law enforcement agencies are already doing this, but the parents should not stand aside. And first of all, every parent should know “what my children are doing,” especially on the Internet, and also make their activity as safe as possible.
What is “screen time”?
There is such a thing as “screen time” or “time spent on phones” in the world today. This term means how much time a person spends behind the display of their own device. Modern technology is now able not only to read the session time but also which programs were used. In this way, it is possible to track when and what the children did at one time or another. But it should be understood that if a child of the same 7 hours spent at the computer: 5 used to studying, 1.5 hours watching a movie, and 0.5 hours playing chess, then this is quite normal behavior. It would be another matter if the child spent all these 7 hours watching videos on TikTok or playing games. But, at the same time, if you eat in a car or train for a long time and turn on the same cartoons for the child, then it’s not scary. The main thing is that it should not happen again from day to day.
How can we reduce children’s addiction to gadgets, but at the same time without losing their trust?
We all perfectly understand how gadgets have become an integral part of life for us. And it is foolish to expect that this is not the case for children. The only exception is children under two years old. For them, the gadget is not something that is needed but rather contraindicated, and this has been proved more than once by child psychologists. Using the same phones with cartoons for two-year-olds, nothing good can be achieved. This is the age at which you need to maximize the development of your child.
As for children 2-5 years old, it is already possible to allow using the gadget for about an hour a day, but at the same time not to make it a tradition and in the order of things. Walking, playing in the fresh air, and interacting with other children are also very important for the future of children.
The most serious difficulties may arise with school-age children, as they are most susceptible to criticism from their classmates and other teenagers. For example, we can take the stories of each of us when other children had things that we ourselves did not have (fashionable jeans, pencil cases, handbags, etc.). At this age, the main thing is not to overdo it with strictness and prohibitions. Otherwise, there may be problems with trust, and, in this case, the child is more likely to address strangers for advice or help than parents. So you can set the rules with the child that, for example, he or she will be able to play favorite games only when the homework is done. In this way, the children will receive additional motivation to resolve tasks quickly. At the same time, you can gently prohibit the use of a phone or tablet while eating.
You can create such rules for other everyday situations (schools, guests, etc.), but you need to enter them very carefully and thoughtfully. The main thing to remember is that the child also has rights, just like you, and very strict rules will lead to lies and deliberate disobedience toward parents. It is always very important to find a compromise that will suit everyone.
Parental control for children on the Internet as a way out of difficult situations
Often the relationship between parents and teenagers is very strained, and taking away a child’s phone can only aggravate the situation. Instead, it is better to use family monitoring on the child’s gadget, using which you can monitor the situation and, if necessary, intervene.
Another way to protect children from problems is to install special programs for parental control. They can be used to set up family access and disable access to unwanted websites. In addition, you will be able to see and discuss something suspicious with your children, talk about possible consequences, and so on, but always in a calm tone so as not to scare the child. Otherwise, later, he or she may “shrink into oneself.”
It is not necessary to hide parental control from children!
We recommend doing it all openly ahead of children so that they do not think that their parents distrust them. Everything should be based on mutual trust. This is recommended not only by us but also by many of the world’s leading child psychologists and pediatricians. You can discuss all this at one of the family dinners, for instance. Tell the children why this should be done, what the main functions the installed program has, how it works, and more. It is important to bring the idea to the children that what is being done is not for the purpose of total control over them but for the sake of their safety and care for them.
It is necessary to tell the children that you fully trust them, but there are situations in life that they themselves will not be able to cope with, and children can always rely on you not only as a parent but also as a best friend. For example, you can say that it is difficult for a child to recognize a fraudster or a person with bad intentions for lack of relevant experience. At the same time, you can tell how installing such an application will help to cope with these dangers.
The “Parental Control Kroha” app: the child is monitored and safe
The mobile “Parental Control Kroha” app is a program for parental control over the children’s actions on their gadgets. This application provides protection and safety for children in the following areas:
- You always know where the child is: GPS monitoring is carried out through the built-in GPS tracker, which tracks the child’s location with an accuracy of up to a couple of meters and transmits this information to your smartphone. This way, you can safely let the child go for a walk with friends, on an excursion, or other school activities.
- Blocking content and installed applications: by running child mode on the child’s phone, you can control access to all applications and disable access to them if necessary. You can also block all unwanted internet portals and web services.
- Time control: with this application, you can control how much time the child spends with the gadget screen and which applications are used.
- Vision Protection and Night Mode: with these functions, you can adjust the safe distance from the screen to the child’s eyes and the screen backlight mode to protect the child’s vision in the dark. This will reduce the risk of developing myopia.
- Control of calls, SMS, correspondence in messengers, contacts, and photos will allow parents to understand with whom and about what the child communicates and to avoid contact with undesirable people.
Thus, using the “Parental Control Kroha” mobile application, you will be able to take even more care of your children while not violating their personal space. The application is available on the website https://parental-control.net, where you can get more details about all its functions.
