A bitter struggle that families feel in light of their children's addiction to the Internet, the control of electronic games on their minds, and the connection of their happiness and their lives to it completely. How much time do your children spend daily in front of TV or mobile screens? Are electronic games safe for those under 13 years old? And how dangerous is it? How do you talk to your teenage children if you discover that they have watched pornography? And what will be your reaction then?
A report by the British newspaper “The Guardian” shed light on this issue, which has become a growing concern within every family and a cause of continuous conflict and even the destruction of the relationship between mothers and their children, as many experts confirmed that addiction to the Internet and electronic games has become more like drug addiction. The Guardian put forward several tips to help families raise happy and healthy children in light of the dominance of the digital age.
Dr. Jane Shinsky, Professor of Psychology at Royal Holloway College, University of London, confirms that before the age of two and a half, children do not learn much of what is displayed on the screen, because they find it difficult to understand speech and relate it to real life, but at this age they need more enriching things. Like listening to a story, doing physical exercise, or even just sleeping. On the other hand, if children spend time in front of screens, they are less able to control their temper, they become more moody and more aggressive, and they also find it difficult to pay attention and focus.
Although there are no specific guidelines in the United Kingdom, for example, regarding the timing of young children sitting in front of the screen, the World Health Organization recommends that children under the age of one do not use the screen, while allowing those between the ages of two and four years to watch screens for an hour or two. less throughout the day.
Some researchers stressed that this is ideal and not applicable in many families, and they suggested a "harm reduction" formula, as spending 20 minutes or so watching a children's channel is less harmful than spending long hours without supervision watching television programs that Contains adult content
Once a child reaches the age of two, the educational benefits of screen time begin to emerge. Here, Dr. Sandra Mathers, a professor of psychology at the University of Oxford, advises choosing a high-quality application or game with useful content that urges the child to actively participate, not passively.
For children in the primary stage, at this stage, they begin to understand technology better and look forward to exploring everything new in this field. But you must have time to know how to deal with it yourself, as advises Parvin Core, a specialist in the field of technology, a mother of two young children, and the founder of a site to help parents keep abreast of the latest challenges and applications on the Internet, and Parvin gives advice to parents, saying: “Before you buy any Something related to technology for your child, ask yourself: does he have time to understand this? If you are teaching your child to swim, you will not buy floaties and throw them in the pool and leave them; Learn that they are only tools, the same is true of technology.
Kate Edwards, Associate Head of Child Online Safety at the NSPCC Children's Association, advises the importance of providing sufficient awareness to young children that they have the ability to control anything that raises their fear or anger by "changing the channel, or turning it off, And tell someone about it.”
In adolescence, although data protection laws require children to be 13 years old to register on social media, this is contrary to reality, as many children on social media are under this age. Here, Parveen Core, a specialist in technology, advises parents to check any site that the child wants to join and remind them, also, to be a role model in the use of social media, while setting limits and a certain time in browsing and not to sit too much in front of it.
If your teen is interested in gaming, make sure you understand what is happening in the game and when to stop it.
Many parents may be concerned about their children being bullied, which is a legitimate concern, but your child may be the one doing the bullying, so it is necessary to talk to him in order to warn against excessive coexistence with social media and bad engagement.
In the youth stage, Will Gardner, CEO of Childnet International, warns that a very large number of young people obtain their sexual information from the Internet by watching pornography, stressing the need to raise awareness in the minds of young people to understand the principle that pornography is on the Internet. Designed to make money, not to teach anything useful or anything like that. Gardner also stressed the need for parents to take into account the feelings of their children and not to show their anger when they know that they have seen these materials, so that they have the opportunity to talk to their parents without shame or fear, but rather they must start reassuring them no matter what they tell them.
And what constitutes a greater danger, a study funded by the European Union revealed evidence of the prevalence of criminal, dangerous and deviant behavior among the age group 16-19 years in nine European countries, including the United Kingdom.
And the “Guardian” showed that the survey of 8,000 young people found that one in four may track or troll someone online, one in eight have engaged in online harassment, one in 10 has engaged in hate speech or hacking, and one has engaged in One out of every five people is involved in sexting and one in three people are involved in digital piracy. It also found that four out of 10 have watched pornography.