Say No Electronic Gadgets To Children

Children these days use electronic gadgets such as smartphones and tablets just like any other play things at home. Parents unintentionally introduce these gadgets to pacify their cranky kids or to engage them when they are at work. When the crying child is pacified with these gadgets instead of giving them enough time to cool down, children won’t acquire the ability of controlling their emotions, say child psychologists.

Children need to develop the quality of emotional self- regulation than distracting or masking the emotions with games or programmes, say researchers at Boston University School of Medicine in the US. Dr Jenny Radesky, clinical instructor in Developmental-Behavioural Pediatrics at Boston University, explained that children use mobile phones at very young ages, and the effect of these gadgets on the development and behaviour of the children are not well known.

The practice of watching television decreases the socialising and language development skills in children, and the mobile phones and tablets similarly keep children from interacting with people, say the investigators. They also raised a question that if children’s emotions are taken care of by such electronic gadgets, would they be able to develop their own internal mechanisms of self-regulation?

The use of electronic devices in children would affect their social and problem-solving skills and as well as their development of empathy. These qualities could be gained by children only when they spend time exploring, interacting and engaging in unstructured play with their friends, explained Radesky.

Radesky also quoted that development of sensorimotor and visual-motor skills responsible for improving knowledge in maths and science in children could be interfered by the use of these gadgets. He also notified that until a clearunderstanding in the use of these gadgets is established, it would be better for parents to engage their children in quality family time.

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