Smartphones have become a huge part of everyone’s life including children. With schooling shifting to online methods, children have become more prone to be using their smartphones. The average age of a child’s first smartphone is around 10 years. Around 64% of kids have access to the internet from their own smartphones.
With multiple platforms on the internet around 39% of kids start using social media platforms by the age of 11.
Ways to keep your children safe from smartphones and the internet:-
- Keep a track of the browsing history
There are many applications and even in the settings in smartphones which will help you to track and use parental control on your child’s smartphone. Keep a check of what applications they are downloading and with whom they are interacting through online sources.
- Enable some restrictions on their smartphones
Many smartphones like iPhones have inbuilt general settings which will help you to restrict some applications and activities that your child is performing on the smartphone. You can simply go in settings followed by general settings and enable restrictions by entering your password. You can simply segregate the applications and content that you wish to restrict.
- Educate them
This is the most important part as it completely depends on how you and your child communicate. It is necessary to educate your child and make them aware of what is ethical and what is not. How they must keep the information always personal and be aware of cybercrime.
Other risks relating to social media:-
Social media platforms Which are popularly used by young adults such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and so on Have a rule that allows only people of 18 years above to make an account on the confirm. However, children manage to lie about their age and still make an account on these social media sites. These websites have content that you might not want your child to access. Also, there are plenty of people who use these websites. Interacting with these people might not always result in something good.
How can you protect your child from these risks?
Always keep in check about your friends and followers on these websites. Also, review the content they are watching or check the pending time on these platforms.
Impact of all these activities
How can one expect that when kids gain access to a magical world that they want to leave it anymore that’s impossible? The long hours on smartphones took a toll on their health. It distributed their sleeping patterns after spending all night on the phone. Some kids even started to suffer from insomnia leading to stress and anxiety. No parents can stay unaffected after seeing their kids in this situation and it is giving them quite a scare.
Final Verdict:- We cannot expect our kids to change overnight. It is a long road to recovery if you want your kids to come out of this craziness? Try to be supportive parents and be an example for them. If you are telling your kid to put aside their phone you also need to do the same. Make strict rules and don’t allow phones during family time. Let companies sell old mobile phones and purchase them for your kids but not before letting them know that you will take the phone away if they start overusing it and let smartphones disturb their sleep pattern.
