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Smartphone OR Smart toy - Where is the balance?

Creating Calm Amidst Chaos is the perfect antidote to the ever-increasing speed of modern family life. The idea seems super simple, but ever-challenging: How to find the peace in the midst of parenthood?

Parenting a young child is already stressful at times. That’s why it’s important to remember to take care of yourself, too. When you feel calmer, it’s easier to be there for your children and meet their needs.

Self-care is not selfish or indulgent - it’s how we keep ourselves well to ensure we are physically, emotionally, and mentally capable of being there for our young children.

On the other hand, we live in a world full of technology and, for many of us, our children understand it better than we do. Parents may feel pressured by their children to provide them with a cell phone at an early age, but aren’t sure if this is a right thing to do.

Is buying peace and quite for ourselves legitimite by giving young children smartphones in their hands?  

The drawbacks of smartphone use on children has received attention in recent years. In academia, journalism, and other popular forms of media, there has been a growing concern for the ways that children have increased access to smartphone technology.

What researchers have to say

Many scholars and researchers found that frequent use of mobile devices appear to be associated with behavioral problems in childhood

Smart phones lead to the deterioration of real person-to-person relationships. For children, face-to-face interactions are the primary ways they gain knowledge and learn. Dr. Jenny Radesky of Boston Medical Center, became concerned when she noticed the lack of interaction between parents and children as she observed that smartphones and other touch screen devices were heavily interfering with bonding and parental attention.

She stated that children learn about their own emotions and how to regulate them by watching us how to have a conversation, how to read other people’s facial expressions. If that’s not happening, children are then missing out on important development milestones.

An article published in the journal Child Development explored the physical health consequences of smartphone use for children. As more children begin using smartphone usage at earlier ages, the article stated that neurological diseases, physiological addiction, cognition, sleep and aggression could emerged from excessive smartphone abuse. Because of this, parents and clinicians should be aware of the repercussions of early-age smartphone usage.

What WHO has to add 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has begun identifying the risks associated with children using smartphone technology. The Washington Post recently reported on the WHO designation of how much time should, young children and babies, spend on smartphones. The organization stated that children between two- and four-years-old “should spend no more than an hour a day in front of a screen.” The researches on the WHO side also pointed that “long-term consequences can be hard to measure, and ethical concerns prevent experiments” that could explore the topic more thoroughly.

Balance and content quality 

Through early guidance, healthy boundaries and support, parents can help children learn how to self-regulate the time they spend on their phones. This lesson will help them create and practice healthy self-awareness and self-reflection practices that will better prepare them for adolescence and, eventually, young adulthood. Smartphone represent an effective preparation to engage with future technologies and a child's path toward the digital literacy. Finding the age and development appropriate content is more important than fighting against the screens and technology.

By bringing the physical development toys together with music videos, Begabungo has created additional, free content supporting free play: Begabungo Music.

Setting up the perfect balance between the technology and early development, we have offered your child an additional dimension for its imagination world, completing the magic of creativity. 

What do you as a parent think about this topic? Write us in the comment!

 

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