With the coming of smartphones, children in modern-day families have got a window to games, videos and a tool for constant interaction with their friends, but for parents, this habit of their kids have added to their woes. They are in a constant dilemma about how to restrict their kids’ access to mobile phones or how to keep them safe as they might fall prey to the negatives of the cyberworld while navigating the digital world.
Parents face a perpetual argument in their subconscious mind. They may not agree with children on how much screen time is acceptable, but there must be some ground rules about usage because rules set in the household over online security will create a better atmosphere for both. This argument is being witnessed between parents and their children.
I would like to mention here that screen time can be beneficial also because a lot of informative things are available through smartphones which also assist even school going kids to make them smarter.
One such study conducted between 2015 and 2017 into mobile phone use among five- to 11-year-olds by Professor of education (futures) at the Open University, Peter Twining, concluded that children’s use of phones may sometimes surprise parents who generally assume that they are just playing games.
Professor reportedly stated that “We tend not to recognise the value of what they do on their mobile devices, but they often use them to extend an interest – for instance, if they’re interested in gymnastics, they’ll watch videos of routines and try to learn from them.”
In another survey conducted by Tesco Mobile over 1,000 adults and 1,000 children aged nine to 15 came out with the conclusion that the mean amount of screen time that adults thought appropriate for children was 1.75 hours, while children believed it to be 3.34 hours.
Since kids’ understanding sometimes come out with surprising outcomes, parents should not always form a negative opinion of their children’s habits, which might be in a positive direction also. However, they must keep a tab on their behaviour, and bar on-screen time is also necessary.
Thus, the use of parental control app should be done very cautiously, otherwise, it may tend to alienate.
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