Research reveals that the habit of providing mobile devices to minors greatly affects the development of their personality.
Mobile devices affect the development of personality in children. Parents know how difficult it is to calm a child down when they are angry, they are never sure what they want, and the easiest solution is to give them something to keep them entertained. A toy on hand or even a snack can be good allies, but what about those who prefer to give them the mobile phone or tablet? For those who believe that these devices are the best to reassure them I have news: stop doing it.
According to a recent study by different researchers, this terrible habit that parents have is affecting the child in his personality development. Rather than practicing parenting and bonding with them, this practice promises to do them harm.
More and more parents are turning to this technological tool when they no longer find the screams of their children. They decide to throw in the towel and instead of comforting or talking to them, they decide the easy way out: hand over the smartphone. What they do not know is that eventually, this act of surrender will bring consequences that are not dimensioning today.
In February of this year, JAMA Pediatrics published a study where they refer to the subject, where they wrote that the most common thing for parents is to relax the energetic temperament of their children using television, cell phones, computers or tablets because they have little control over the minors. Study author and Boston University doctor Jenny Radesky took advantage of the request to explain that parents have already been warned many times that this is something they must solve: they are providing obstacles in the development of language that can appear when a child spends a lot of time playing and thus has no interaction with other people.
In reality, there are many who defend the use of smartphones and tablets because they say that it helps children to speak and improve their vocabulary, but Radesky warned last year that: “if these devices become a habitual method to calm and distract to children, will they be able to develop their own mechanisms of self-regulation? ”
That is why he assured that: “The abuse of these devices during childhood could interfere with their development of empathy, their social skills and solving problems, which are generally obtained from exploration, unstructured games and interaction with friends”.
Thus it is implied that the best way these parents have to calm their children does not depend on a technological apparatus but on their abilities. Talking to, holding and listening to children will help them improve their anxieties and learn to control themselves little by little. Even if it takes time, it is something they should do.