In the present times, technology is developing rapidly, which has many advantages as well as some disadvantages, but have you ever thought that our children have to bear the most of its disadvantages? Mobiles, tablets and laptops have now become a part of the daily routine of children, without which children are not happy,
but when these things are used excessively, it can become a hindrance in their mental, physical and emotional development. It has become very important for every parent to understand how excessive screen time is affecting their child.
According to a research “Screen Time and Early Childhood Development” published by the National Library of Medicine, excessive screen time can have a negative impact on children’s concentration, sleep quality and behavioral balance.
Now the time has come that we should stop ignoring the negative effects of screen time on child development. This article will explain to you in detail the 10 reasons why screen time is bad and will tell how the side effects of screen time can gradually change your child’s thinking, understanding and relationships.
10 reasons why screen time is bad
1. Childhood is lost.
When children spend more time using mobile or tablet, they are losing the unique moments of their childhood like playing in mud, getting drenched in rain, laughing with friends, all these make the childhood of children memorable. These are not just moments, but memories.
But in today’s digital world, excessive screen time is taking children away from these precious experiences of real life. Negative effects of screen time on child development is not just a talk, it is not a common thing but also a scientific fact.
According to a study (AAP, 2016), when children spend more time in front of the screen, it affects the language, attention and social skills of children. Side effects of screen time include loneliness, lack of sleep and irritability, mental fatigue etc.
When we think that the child is just sitting quietly and using the phone without making any noise. In reality, it is filling his life with laziness. Technology should be used when needed. In free time, children should do physical activities or read books. Children’s childhood gets lost due to excessive screen time. This is one of the 10 reasons why screen time is bad.
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2. Brain development may slow down
When children spend more screen time than necessary, it affects not only their eyes or sleep, but also their brain. You may be surprised to hear this, but it is one of the most serious reasons for the negative effects of screen time on child development.
When a small child spends the whole day watching videos on mobile or tablet or spending time playing games, his brain only passively absorbs content, which weakens the child’s ability to think actively, ask questions and find solutions.
Research has found that excessive screen time affects the development of children’s frontal lobe, which is related to decision making, focus and problem solving.
Children spending more screen time seems normal to us, but this problem can have a profound effect on the learning process and critical thinking in children. If you are thinking “10 reasons why screen time is bad”, then one of the most important side effects of screen time is the slow development of your child’s brain.
(Source: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2020)
3. The sweetness of sleep is taken away
When children spend too much screen time and even before sleeping at night, the blue light that enters their eyes sends a message directly to their brain that “don’t sleep now.” The sleep hormone, melatonin, is suppressed. The result?
The child keeps changing sides, and in the morning when he has to go to school, his eyes become heavy, he has a headache, he becomes irritable and is unable to concentrate on any work. This is just one aspect of the negative effects of screen time on child development.
When excessive screen time becomes a habit, its side effects are huge which affect the child’s life and this is the reason why in the list of 10 reasons why screen time is bad, deteriorating sleep quality is a serious and effective reason.
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4. Irritability occurs in behavior
Spending too much screen time by a child changes his behavior, as you must have felt that the child starts getting angry more often or he is becoming irritable. All these are the side effects of excessive screen time,
which directly affect their behavior and children can become intolerant and lonely by spending too much screen time. In fact, this is a big issue in the negative effects of screen time on child development. Due to screen time spent, children gradually lose their ability to understand and express emotions.
The screen imprisons them in a world of fast paced, colorful visuals, where there is no place for patience, tolerance and human connection, which reduces their attachment to the real world. This reason alone is enough to be included in the list of 10 reasons why screen time is bad because irritability of the child is a major result of this.
Sources of information
Twenge, J.M., et al. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents, Preventive Medicine Reports.
World Health Organization (2019). Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age.
American Academy of Pediatrics. Media and Young Minds, Pediatrics, 2016.
5. Language and speaking ability are affected
Children’s habit of excessive screen time affects their behaviour and ability to speak and understand. Often, due to spending too much screen time, children reduce laughing, speaking, or sharing emotions in our language. Because they do not understand what their parents say, as social media or games are more interesting than them.
You should understand that excessive screen time not only affects children’s eyes or sleep, but the most profound impact is on their language and communication skills. This is a major aspect of the negative effects of screen time on child development.
When children do not talk openly to family or friends, their vocabulary starts falling short and they start forgetting things due to not using their communication skills, which leads to low self-confidence in them.
The habit of spending too much screen time at an early age pushes children back from society. According to the report of American Academy of Pediatrics starting to speak late and difficulty in connecting with others are common side effects of screen time.
This is why it is important for every parent to understand that this is one of the 10 reasons why screen time is bad, which can shape the entire future of their child and it is very important to control it.
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6. It affects physical health
Excessive use of anything harms us in some way or the other, similarly, spending too much screen time also affects the health of the child. There are many hidden side effects of screen time such as obesity increases due to sitting in one place and not doing physical activities, back and neck pain,
eye irritation and sometimes even headaches start. This can happen to children of all ages. According to the report of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), excessive screen time can increase posture problems and eye fatigue in children.
Not only this, the bones and muscles of young children who are in the development phase can become weak without adequate movement. This is the reason why physical damage is an important part of the negative effects of screen time on child development.
If you really want your child to be healthy and active, then it is very important to limit screen time. This is one of the 10 reasons why screen time is bad and it is very important to ignore it because maintaining good physical health should be the first priority of a person.
7. Emotional bonding decreases
Spending too much screen time can also spoil the relationship between parents and children because children ignore their parents’ words or do not give importance to them. Parents should understand that the child’s eyes should shine with new interesting questions but they keep scrolling the video continuously. Due to excessive screen time,
children gradually stop talking to their parents and a time comes when they talk to their parents only when they need something, otherwise they do not care about the feelings of their parents because they consider
themselves happier in the imaginary world of social media and children start finding it boring to sit and talk to their parents. According to this report (UNICEF, 2017), research has also proved that when children spend more time on screen,
there is a distance in their social and family relationships. This is a deep side effect of screen time. This is the reason why this reason is considered the most emotional and important in the list of 10 reasons why screen time is bad.
8. Can become a habit or addiction
Addiction to anything is bad except addiction to success because it makes a person’s life better, but addiction to excessive screen time can ruin a child’s life. You must have realized that often when the phone is taken from children, they suddenly get angry or start getting restless in the hope that the phone should be given to them again.
This is the most dangerous effect of excessive screen time. This reaction of the child gradually becomes an addiction. In the beginning, it seems that the child is calm, busy, but in reality, his mind gets lost in a world that is serving something new every second,
so he does not show interest in the real world, which is the negative effects of screen time. Scientific research shows that among the side effects of excessive screen time, children get used to dopamine dependency i.e. instant happiness,
due to which they gradually stop connecting with the simple things of real life This is the reason why it is considered the main reason in the 10 reasons why screen time is bad.
In the negative effects of screen time on child development, this reason “it can become a habit or addiction” is very noteworthy because it deeply affects the mental and emotional development of the child.
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9. The natural process of learning stops
In childhood, children live such happy moments which become golden memories of their life, but if the child considers the happiness of his childhood only to talk and watch the phone without stopping, then this thinking of his affects his life and spoils his childhood, due to which his health,
mental development, speaking skills and other important things are affected. Childhood of a child should be like watching a line of ants moving, floating a paper boat while getting wet in the rain, or watching the leaves of trees change color, riding a bicycle with father in the rain,
cooking with mother, playing domestic games with siblings, etc. But the addiction of excessive screen time deprives the child of all these childhood activities. Research shows that too much screen time reduces children’s creative thinking,
curiosity and desire to learn in the real world ([AAP, 2016] It not only slows down a child’s cognitive development, but also has a negative impact on their emotional and social development. The negative effects of screen time on child development do not end here. Another important point in the side effects of screen time is that the child’s eyes, brain and soul gradually start getting tired.
So when we talk about “10 reasons why screen time is bad”, this disconnect from the real world is one of the most profound effects because being deprived of childhood experiences is not normal but parents should control their children and try to make their childhood memorable.
10. Loneliness and social distance increases
When a child spends more screen time than necessary, it makes his life look more empty. Children who live behind the screen gradually start getting disconnected from real life relationships, then when they try to fix the relationships, it is too late and many times they do not even try to fix the relationships.
Because they have not been able to make good relationships with others, which is due to low self-confidence and due to more screen time, their self-confidence is weakened because they stay away from such activities that increase their self-confidence.
The report of the American Academy of Pediatrics says that loneliness, anxiety and lack of self-confidence are the main side effects of screen time. This is the reason why it is very important for parents to understand the negative effects of screen time on child development.
When relationships start getting weakened by screen, it is not just a defeat of technology, but also of our emotions. We really have to think that “Are we distancing our children from their childhood?”
This is one of those 10 reasons why screen time is bad, which Every parent should take this seriously.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to understand that children’s experience of today shapes their personality tomorrow, so control their screen time and teach them to live in the present.
Negative effects of screen time on child development is not just a warning but a reality that parents should not ignore for the better future of their child. In this article, we have presented 10 reasons why screen time is bad and shown how excess of technology is pushing
children towards problems like loneliness, irritability, and lack of self-confidence. The change in a child starts from home by the parents, so we should start giving our children a healthy, happy and balanced childhood.