Could too much technical time lead to unruly or even worse behavior with your child?
An Iowa teenager recently ran away from home when his parents grabbed his cell phone.
As most mainstream media reported, the 13-year-old was found dead five days later.
While no one will ever know what really caused this child's death, and several issues could have impacted his behavior, removing his cell phone certainly contributed to an argument between the child and his parents.
Today, many young people become dependent on their technological devices at an early age. Many parents give their children iPads and tablets when they are 2 years old, some even younger.
Studies are starting to appear indicating the problems associated with addiction to technology.
Too much time on the device can lead to slow development of social skills and lack of communication. It can also have long term physical effects with brain development and related issues.
Here are five helpful tips to reduce reliance on technology and increase healthy conversations.
1. Give very young children blocks and toys, not devices. The best toys will engage a child's senses, stimulate their imagination, and encourage them to interact with others. As they grow older, infants can use toys to explore the permanence of objects and cause and effect relationships. They also need objects such as blocks to help develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
2. Parents need to put their devices away and set a good example. Society demands can be tough, but mom and dad should stay away from their devices and talk to their kids. Create device-free hours around dinner and later. Engage with your kids by playing board games and other activities that encourage conversation. It is still possible to reply to work-related messages after the children are in bed.
3. Consider giving your child / teen a flip phone rather than a smartphone. A flip phone encourages more conversations and discourages internet access and application use. If you need to provide your child with a phone because you don't have a landline and your child is home alone, or if you have to pick up your child from school or training and you have need to be able to communicate, a flip phone will suffice.
Maintain the “device boundaries” between your child and their friends so that they don't dominate their lives. When planning dates, sleepovers, and social outings ... ask the parent what their device's policy is and stick to it. Do not allow your child to take their device to a friend's house if that family has a no-device policy. If you need to reach your child, get the parents' phone number to contact your child.
5. Learn how to limit screen time and block content. If you have concerns about the technology, but not to the point where you feel it needs to be removed all together, find out about the best products on the market for blocking content, enforcing screen time limits, etc. Some good apps for this are Circle and Bark.