Your Cell Phone Addiction Is Bad For Your Child
The way people communicate has changed and the use of cell phones, as well as social networks, is a priority for many people.
This is quite harmful because it makes adults disconnect from reality, and what’s worse, this addiction can harm children even more.
The danger of cell phone addiction
This situation is not difficult to see: while the child is talking to the mother or father, or wants to share experiences, they are looking at the cell phone and completely ignoring what the children are saying.
This is a sad reality that many children live today. But the worst part is yet to come: they learn that this is normal and, in the future, they will do the same thing.
Apparently, cell phone addiction is a common thing these days. However, this habit is very intellectual and emotionally damaging to children of parents who are addicted to these devices, especially younger children.
Neuroscientific studies make it clear that the first 3 years of children’s lives are when they most quickly develop their linguistic, emotional, social and motor skills.
When parents are addicted to cell phones, they put aside experiences that will not be repeated with their children.
Children, in turn, do not have a quality interaction with their parents and this can cause certain emotional problems and developmental delays, such as exercising speech and social skills.
The importance of direct interactions
It is essential that parents interact with their children face to face so that children can develop their social skills and improve their learning day after day, as well as their behavior and emotional development.
Children develop through quality interactions with their parents. Naturally, they learn language, emotional balance, and leisure time with their family.
Another problem caused by addiction is when a parent pays more attention to the cell phone than their children.
When they try to get attention, parents are forced to shift their focus of concentration, making them more easily irritable, and soon lose patience with the little ones.
This type of situation can hurt the child emotionally, as he or she doesn’t fully understand what is going on.
Cell phone addiction is synonymous with ignoring children
It’s very sad, but children really feel ignored by their parents. Parents who look like robots staring all day at their cell phone, absorbed in a screen.
Furthermore, those children who feel ignored will tend to behave worse to get the attention of their parents. Consequently, this will make them more irritable and cause the tension in the home environment to increase.
When an adult is responding to a message, their brain activates the “job urgently” function. Thus, he can treat his children badly if he is interrupted.
It’s unthinkable that parents give greater priority to digital activities than their own children. But unfortunately it is a reality.
Children feel that they are unimportant to their parents, fostering a feeling of rejection and seriously hampering their self-esteem development.
All this must change
This little interaction with children because of cell phone addiction must change. Parents must be aware of the importance of interacting with their children. That is, they must talk and listen to them calmly every day of their lives.
Some measures are needed to overcome cell phone addiction in order to improve the quality of the family environment. Some of them are:
- Set rules and time limits for using mobile devices at home
- Prioritize interaction with children and silence the phone while playing or interacting with them
- Also put rules for the time children are in contact with the screens, whether on tablets or cell phones. Everyone should limit their use of screens.
- Be aware of the daily stimulation needed by children, as well as quality family time
- Set a schedule for work. There’s no need to answer an email when you’re with the kids, it can wait.
- Do not use your cell phone during meals or during family time.
