Why Screen Time for Kids Should be Controlled?

When kids throw tantrums, it is tempting to hand them over a smartphone or tablet to keep them still and quiet. This way of pacifying is surely effective with children. Unfortunately, screen time comes with harmful effects for them.

Many parents introduce gadgets to their kids in hope to aid their development. There are many educational apps for children that can be downloaded to these devices which can help kids learn faster. For instance, the Preschool Games app which has interactive games and videos that teach alphabets, numbers, shapes, and animals. This app and many others are fun and interesting for children. Helping them to focus and learn quickly.

Gadgets and screen time can be beneficial for kids. Aside from educational apps, there are games that enable children to be motivated in reaching their goals. Which is to win. Games help improve kids’ cognitive skills as they learn to analyze and strategize. Moreover, there are endless of YouTube channels that offers educational and entertaining videos for children.

In addition, allowing children to have a screen time gives parents a chance to rest or do other tasks. Caring for kids can be exhausting especially when they are toddlers. Sometimes they just want to be carried around, whimper without reason, or run around the house which can cause accidents. Keeping them occupied by offering gadgets is helpful to parents as kids need less attention and monitoring during this time.

However, it is critical to control screen time for children because excessive exposure to gadgets has serious negative effects on them.

Eye problem is one of the most common issues that occurs to children who spend hours on gadgets. The blue lights from the screens can cause early onset of nearsightedness to young children. Staring at screens can cause eye strain which is manifested by a painful sensation around the eyes. Kids can also experience eye dryness due to not being able to blink as needed. Blinking is necessary to keep moisture in the eyes. In severe cases, eye dryness can cause redness and inflammation in the organ or worse abrasion in the cornea’s surface which could lead into blindness.

Over exposure to gadgets can lead to poor social skills. Children can be so engaged in their screen activities that they become disinterested in playing and making friends physically. This can greatly affect their confidence to interacting with people even when they become adults. The childhood stage is crucial for kids to develop social skills which they naturally learn by playing and interacting with other children.

Learning problems is another possible issue to occur on children who use gadgets excessively. Games and videos can make their brain preoccupied with screen content even when they are not using a device. This can lead to attention deficit which affects their ability to focus and remember things. Which are two important factors in learning.

Having too much screen time increases kid’s risk to develop obesity. Sitting in front of the screens means fewer physical activities which is very important to burn calories. Like adults, children need to exercise to stay fit and healthy. Allowing them to always play with gadgets will reduce their interest in playing outside.

Like all things, gadgets have good and bad effects. The negative impacts are usually due to excessive usage.  With good guidance, allowing children to have a screen time can be beneficial for both kids and parents.