This blog post intends to spread awareness among the people to reduce the excessive use of smartphones by kids. As just like in any other area, we have to be in control and put some boundaries when it comes to allowing kids to use electronic gadgets. These limits become necessary as an overdose for anything will lead to a bad result.
Before it’s too late to take action against such an issue, here are some effective steps to ensure that your children can find a correct path and get along with their social life. For this, here are a few strategies by which you can control the excessive use of smartphones among the children.
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Contents
Try becoming the role model
Keeping the children as the first priority, these days, the kids are getting more active on smartphones instead of enjoying their social life. However, the primary reason for this problem turns out to be the ignorance of their parents. The people who use their phones continuously in front of kids end up provoking them to start using smartphones. Thus, if you wish to prevent your kids from falling into the trap of smartphone addiction, know that you need to be a role model by getting off your device first.
Kids are active learners and to pick up the habits of their parents. This means when you are too busy with your smartphone in front of them, it’s obvious that they will also be keen to use the device. Thus, you need to minimize the use whenever possible and keep yourself involved in the discussion instead of being glued to the screen. Less usage of smartphones in front of children and kids will reduce their demand for the same thing.
Encourage them to participate in other physical activities
Parents can encourage their children to get involved in outdoor activities or events so that they can be energetic. Sitting ideal at one place is not at all helpful. So, ask your children to participate in sports, get into meditation and other physical activities which will lead to a good and maintained livelihood. However, if you are unable to encourage them for these activities, then you will be one of the reasons behind the consequences they might face.
Avoid installing too many games
Smartphone games are highly responsible for addiction, and children tend to be a frequent target. This is because they easily get attracted to these games and they do ask for a mobile phone which can be the ultimate cause of over usage of smartphones. This kind of over-usage might affect your kid’s mental health. Thus, avoid installing games or any unnecessary applications on your phone so that an addiction routine doesn’t get to develop. By avoiding such meaningless apps, your kid can get rid of the gaming habit so as to start doing something else in his social life.
Locking the phone to prevent access
This way, your kids won’t be able to use the phone and be more likely to be involved in something productive in their surroundings instead of getting attracted to social media culture. For sure they will try to access the phone’s lock, but make sure you keep a secure password. They might get rid of the habit of using a phone regularly and get involved in other physical activities rather than staying busy with smartphones.
Work on improving their smartphone usage
Parents and elders can guide their children by showing the correct usage of the smartphone in a productive manner. This way, a kid can be more productive while carrying something out on a smartphone. For example, they can show their children some motivational videos, tools like calculators or emails, and other useful applications.
As a result, the child can get an idea about new things and can use the phone in a useful manner or at least he can use its function for a suitable purpose.
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Influencing children by telling cons of excessive use of smartphones
You can influence your kids by informing them about the disadvantages of excessive usage of smartphones as the overuse has several undesirable side effects. This is particularly causes of the radiations that smartphones emit and affect the overall health of an individual.
The following are some of the major side effects that mobile phone usage has on people, including children.
1) Blurred vision
Children have sensitive eyes at a young age, and constant exposure to a bright display can cause considerable damage. This is why you need to teach them about keeping a safe distance whenever using a digital gadget, be it a smartphone or anything else that has a display.
2) Sleeping disorders
Apart from the strain caused to the eyes, smartphone use is also related to a lot of sleeping concerns. This means your child might have some trouble sleeping when the entire day is spent staring at the screen. It becomes your responsibility to ensure the sound sleep of your kid, which can only be achieved when mobile use is set in a limited manner.
3) Neck and back pain
A healthy spine is vital when you need to keep up with your posture. A young body can easily undergo severe pain when long hours are spent in front of the mobile phone. When remaining busy a smartphone for a couple of hours per day, we ruin our neck and back muscles. So, no wonder children might feel the nagging pain in these parts of the body. Thus, be mindful of your child’s posture every time he/she uses a smartphone. Turning the smartphone off will limit the usage of it and would also relieve a spine from pressure.
It’s no big secret that teens and children have a complicated relationship with technology, but we still got time to have control over such things. So, try finding new ways to prevent the addiction of excessive usage of smartphones and do make sure to set your limitations and boundaries for better and productive outcomes.
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