There is no doubt that technology has proven to make our life more efficient and trouble-free. Nowadays, as you go to restaurants, shopping centers, or even in the playground, you may notice children staring down with focused eyes on the glowing screen of tablets or smartphones.
How much do you think overusing this technology may spoil the future of children? Research conducted by Kaiser Foundation showed that children use almost five times greater than the usual recommended time to use technology. Here are some reasons why we shouldn’t provide our children with smartphones.
Smartphone becomes an addiction for children
Smartphones always play something new one after another, and this becomes the most exciting part for children. Smartphones bring them anything simply with just a single tap. This action led them to use various apps, games, and social sites without any impulse control, which eventually causes an addiction. This addiction is hard to get over, ruining attention for study and so on.
Smartphone deteriorates the relationship with parents.
An infant’s brain is almost triple in size. During that stage, the voice, touch, and manner of parents help them learn and create a good bond. But when a child spends more time on screen, according to Denise Daniels, a pediatric nurse changes the neural pathway and creates different ones. The bonding affection towards parents is destroyed, and children make insensible decisions. They also build low self-esteem in the long run.
It provokes tantrums
Giving smartphones to calm children isn’t good practice, which ruins a child’s patience level, fails in developing their internal mechanisms, etc.
Smartphone narrows their creativity.
The easy access through the internet using smartphones is helping to gather any information instantly, which limits their creative mind to do something on their own, which reduces their nerve impulses, such as slowing of motor and optical sensory development.
Smartphones impede their capability of learning.
Undoubtedly, a smartphone diverts a child’s attention and concentration on study. Interactive screen time impacts unquestionably a child’s mental development of skills required to solve math and science.
Using smartphones leads them to obesity.
Children no longer are interested in exercise and daily activities. They tend to use smartphones by Khong in a particular spot for hours, which led them to develop various health issues, including obesity.
Affects mental health
Kids who spend a more extended period on screen are usually lonely, sad. Online bullying raises self insecurity which causes depression and anorexia, creating a negative impact on health. Moreover, children are less likely to learn about empathy and socialism, making them more aggressive towards family members.
It Disrupts the sleep cycle.
A particular light emitted from a mobile screen suppresses melatonin, a hormone associated with sleep.
The light also disrupts a children’s natural sleep-wake cycle in the body.
It desensitizes children to explicit contents and violations
Children are playing lots of violent games, cyberbullying hence confronting other sensitive content, which creates a mindset that offense is average while dealing with life problems.