How to prevent children(all ages) from being addicted to mobile phones? (transfer to parents)

Many parents are obsessed with mobile phones and other electronic products for their children. What should parents do with children of different ages? In this article today, I recommend teachers to transfer to parents.

The World Health Organization (who) has published a recommendation report on the exposure time of children to electronic screens. The report recommends that children under 2 years of age should not touch any electronic screens, and that children aged 2-5 should not be exposed to electronic screens for more than an hour a day.

The survey mentioned in the report indicates that prolonged exposure of children to electronic screens can result in challenges for parents in managing their children's emotions and time. The World Health Organization expresses concern over the combination of excessive screen time and sedentary behavior in children under five years old, as it may lead to inadequate sleep and reduced physical activity levels.

Therefore, the report recommends that children under five years of age, if they want to grow up healthily, must reduce the time they spend sitting down and watching the screen, or be confined to strollers and seats, get better quality sleep and have more time to play actively.

In fact, electronic products are like a double-edged sword. As adults, many of us can’t resist the temptation of electronic products, let alone children. Then, how to use electronic products for our children? What kind of degree should we grasp? How to teach children how to use electronic products reasonably? How to prevent children from being excessively addicted to them?

Why can't we touch mobile phones in early childhood?

First of all, children’s retina to 12 years old to develop and perfect, before this should be as little as possible contact with mobile phone electronic products. If children are curious about mobile phones, they can demonstrate to children how to make phone calls, send voice messages, take photos, etc., so as to establish children’s correct cognition of the use of mobile phones.

Many parents sometimes leave their children to the mobile game “care” for the sake of temporary cleanliness. But 3-6-year-old children are still young, lack of self-control, once exposed to the game, very easy to become addicted.

Therefore, children in this age group can have proper access to mobile phones, such as letting them understand that mobile phones can be used for making calls, chatting with people, video and other basic purposes, but they must be away from mobile games.

Parents will try to remove all kinds of games, such as music, games, etc. Even if children want to play with mobile phones, in addition to flipping through photo albums and taking photos, they won’t find it interesting. Naturally, they won’t always pester their parents to ask for mobile phones.

In the face of their children’s addiction to mobile phones, many parents often use parental identity to force them and threaten them with parent-child relationship. For example, some parents say to their children, “I said no play, that is, no play!” “If you play again, you won’t be able to eat!” “Play again and I won’t want you!”

Negotiate with the child to specify the duration and times of playing with the mobile phone. As a rule that must be observed, if it is violated, it can be punished by taking housework. Parents should be aware of their emotions and motivations. The goal is “children stop playing mobile games”, not “kids stop playing mobile games obediently”.

Children are allowed to talk back and cry. Parents should try to understand their children’s feelings and positions. If the head of the family hopes that the children can finish their homework first and then play the mobile phone, instead of saying “I know this game is fun, but you must finish the homework first.”. "I'll watch you finish this game, and then you’ll do your homework, OK? ”

Children in this age group are in the prelude of puberty, have a high level of Ideological and cognitive, and have certain self-control and self-management ability. Parents should insist on appropriate intervention and rational utilization. Direct confiscation, angry yelling, and even a beating are all temporary measures.

After communication and trust, negotiate with children to formulate rules for playing mobile phones, such as whether they can take them to school, when they can play mobile phones, how long they can play once, and what punishment will be given if they exceed the time limit. The positive effects of children’s using mobile phones should be treated correctly to guide children to use mobile phones reasonably. For example, it is more convenient to read e-books on mobile phones and search learning information on mobile phones.

May have seen so much, many parents still have a headache to do it. How to balance the use of electronic products between children and their parents? How to solve this problem? One is to set the time for children to use electronic products, and the other is to remind children in advance how much time they have left so that they can count their words.

Electronic products are very attractive to children, and 10 minutes will pass at once. Therefore, it is easier for children to remind them in advance and let them have time to prepare for the end. Of course, the duration of using electronic products doesn’t have to be so rigid. Some programs have a longer time, 20 or 30 minutes. It’s OK to have a look. But the total duration of each day is better not to exceed 1 hour.

Related guide: How Long Should your Kids Play Video Games Per Day?

As long as you keep this rule, children will gradually get used to it, which is also good for cultivating children’s self-control. After all, children have no self-control, and parents still need to help their children to abide by the rules in their life.

When children use electronic products, we can teach them the advantages of electronic products and let them learn new knowledge through electronic products.

For example, the map function of the mobile phone can guide the children to use the map to query the way of travel when they go out with their children at ordinary times, and guide the children to query the nearby scenic spots and food through the mobile phone software, so that the children can connect the information in the electronic products with the real life.

• Related, here is the guide of 'How to share live location on WhatsApp'.
• And, here are the 5 best meal planning apps in 2023.

In addition to these functions, children can also learn practical functions closely related to life, such as taking pictures, videos, weather forecast, wechat voice information, etc. What’s more, parents can help their children choose some educational programs, such as animal world, and watch them with their children. They can also ask their children what kind of animals this is and what they are, and explain them to them.

• Related, here are the 9 Best Messaging Apps for Android in 2023.
• And, here are the 9 best Canadian weather apps for Android/iPhone.
• And, here are top 5 Best Australian Weather APPs in 2023.
• Also, here are the 5 Best Indian Weather Apps in 2023.

If this is the case, in addition to the use of electronic products, children need to develop some hobbies and arrange rich entertainment activities.

For example, learning to draw and play chess needs to be practiced every day, which can also cultivate children’s concentration and patience; or take children to climb mountains and swim, so that children can exercise their whole body and mind; and parent-child reading and parent-child games are beneficial activities that can help children develop comprehensively.

On August 30, 2018, the Ministry of education, the Chinese National Health Commission and other eight departments jointly issued the plan, which mentioned that parents should minimize the use of electronic products when accompanying their children. Consciously control the use of electronic products by children, especially preschool children.

The single use of electronic products for non learning purposes should not exceed 15 minutes, and the cumulative use should not exceed 1 hour every day. After learning with electronic products for 30-40 minutes, they should take a rest and look away for 10 minutes. The younger the age, the shorter the continuous use of electronic products.

As parents, we must set a good example for our children, accompany them as much as possible, and grow up healthy and happy with them.