What would the world be like without technology? People today cannot survive without smartphones and other gadgets. The days of making trunk, ISD, and STD calls to reach pals overseas are long gone. With each passing day, the brain is becoming more and more reliant on technology which is making it work slower. Technology has almost shrieked the brain of most populations, especially youngsters and the new generation. Most of them fail at solving real life situations and bringing quality to life because of their dependency on technology.
Considering how useful technology was during the two years of the epidemic, it is clear that it will continue to be used in the educational sector as a tool for learning.
The government pushed online learning and a work-from-home culture as a pandemic control mechanism, but this led to excessive screen time and the construction of global cultures under one roof. The digital medium was the only one that could maintain socioemotional connections at the time. However, With the development of digital technology, excessive screen time has grown to be a serious problem.
Excessive use of technology
Almost every element of modern life is impacted by technology, including sociability, productivity, food access, transportation efficiency and safety. With the internet's strength, it is now easier to share ideas and resources and to create global communities. However, excessive usage of particular technologies has been connected to societal divide, a loss in mental, physical, emotional health, and privacy issues.
Its effects are now, post-pandemic, widely felt and visible, particularly in youngsters.
Impact on the physical health of children
Numerous studies show unequivocally that youngsters today spend much more time indoors watching devices than they do outside playing. There is ample evidence that the harmful physical health consequences of technology on children encompass problems including obesity, insomnia, visual impairments, carpal tunnel syndrome and neck pain.
Mental health effects of technology on kids
There is a growing corpus of study on how technology may harm children's mental health in addition to its effects on physical health.
Without internet access or a smartphone, concerns of irritability have suddenly increased. Other complaints include an inability to focus, absences from online educational courses or work owing to sleep disturbances, and inevitable excessive use of smartphones.
Numerous studies have linked the use of social media with higher levels of anxiety and depression, especially in young people. Many young individuals have used social media to communicate with friends and family during the pandemic.
Despite being ostensibly designed to foster human connection, social media, with its highly controlled feeds of individuals' idealised selves, frequently breeds jealousy and loneliness.
Social media is another source of news for many people, much of it unfavourable, which can be stressful. Contrarily, research indicates that using social media less frequently makes people feel less lonely and unhappy.
The need to go offline
Children's mental health cases have dramatically increased, according to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). Similar to this, parents from all over the world are swarming clinics to get their children treated for digital addiction. Children in a "Save the Children study" of 25,000 people in 37 countries in 2020 said there was more violence when schools were closed than when students were physically present in the classroom.
Tips to help your child detoxify from digital addiction
It is now time for kids and teenagers to return to learning, playing, and socialising in a non-digital environment, or else they are at a higher risk of being addicted to technology, which will make it difficult for them to escape and impede their ability to grow emotionally and physically.
Here are some tips that a parent should implement to keep their children healthy and to help them stay balanced in their lives.
1. Engage in physical sports
It is important for parents to guide their child and push them more towards outdoor games and sports instead of sitting and playing video games with them. It would be a great way for them to sweat and socialize in real terms.
2. Keeping away from FOMO
The second generation of mobile users seeks constant connectivity and has developed a fear of missing out (FOMO). It’s crucial for both the educators and parents to teach children that it’s just a term and there are so many other ways to connect to the world. Promoting reading books, newspapers, magazines and listening to various podcasts can be beneficial to both physical and mental health of a child. It can also help them develop better concentration, communication skills, and knowledge.
3. Setting home rules
It is important to make some house rules such as restricting the entry of mobiles in the dining space. It will help make them more aware and conscious of their food choices and portions. A lot of children unknowingly binge while being on gadgets regularly which further results in obesity and other health problems. It is always a great idea to fix an hour to sit, talk, play and have fun with your children doing different activities.
4. Embrace nature
Help your child stay close to nature and take a vacation from it occasionally by hiking a mountain or spending a week in the woods. Allow the kids to spend some time gardening, taking them on hikes or on walks in the middle of nature. Once they’ve established a connection with nature, it will help them expand their mind, grow spiritually, and detoxify them from time to time from any sort of negativity they might have developed.
5. Setting up time limits for gadgets
Children should be encouraged to create a tech schedule similar to how they follow a study schedule, where they can use their devices for a set amount of time.
