Gadgets have become a big part of our lives. We have them for everything today. They are all around us, from work-related things to items used for our leisure time.
We are so dependent on these devices nowadays that it does not come as a surprise when your little ones start using them right from their early years.
However, gadgets are like a two-sided sword; they can have many benefits, like making your life easier, getting things done in half the time, and more. But it can also negatively impact our lives, especially our children, by making them too dependent and often lazy.
As per the research by Crunch Reviews, even gadgets as simple as headphones can significantly impact the health and well-being of kids.
Undoubtedly, using electronic devices like a tablet helps in a child’s early development, but it has many more downsides.
Why Do You Need to be Careful While Picking Gadgets for Your Kids?
The growing years in your child’s life are a crucial stage, as it is where habits form. Children feel attracted to new things, and electronic devices like mobile phones and tablets attract them even faster.
Parents often let their young ones sit in front of the television and give them gadgets, so they stop crying, eat food, or behave appropriately.
But little do we know that these actions can damage the kid’s overall growth and development.
Thus, you need to be very careful and intelligent in picking gadgets for kids of all ages and including them in their daily lives.
- Devices Can Impair Brain Development
In the initial years, your child’s brain develops the most. Although some gadgets or applications help improve their hearing and speaking skills through videos or audio, the negative impacts outweigh the positive ones.
If a kid spends several hours using gadgets, it can potentially impair their brain’s natural development cycle.
In such cases, a child’s sensory development does not happen properly, causing many other problems.
Issues like attention deficit, impaired learning capabilities, and cognitive delays can start taking root, and the impact worsens with time.
Thus, it is best to go traditional and sit with your child, helping them to learn, read, or write. However, you can allow them to use gadgets occasionally for skill development.
- It is Easier to Get Addicted to Gadgets
Busy parents find it easier to give their kids gadgets and complete their work.
But this can make the child eventually addicted to the devices. The addiction can rise to a stage where the child might misbehave if the gadgets are taken away. Thus, the cycle goes on and on.
Addiction to gadgets in children can be of different types. They include Gaming Addiction, Social Media Addiction, Online Gambling addiction, Pornographic Addiction, and Online shopping addiction.
In children of various ages, any of these addictions can develop. Usually, Gaming Addiction, Social Media Addiction, and Gambling Addiction are most likely to happen.
- Complete Dependence on Gadgets Leads to Critical Health Issues
Children who get gadgets too often find it hard to put them down. When they depend too much on these devices, they become inactive and lazy.
It is also a fact that when kids have their meals while using smartphones or tablets, they don’t eat properly, leading to a lack of nutrition. This, in turn, impacts their physical health.
Also, eating while using these electronic devices can cause overeating, leading to obesity and other related health problems. With obesity and undernutrition, too much screen time can affect their eyesight.
Besides, gadgets like headphones might seem harmless, but when kids use them for an excessive amount of time, they can hamper their hearing ability.
- Continuous Usage Makes a Child Less Interactive
In an attempt to get their work done, parents give kids gadgets to keep them busy. But this can slowly lead to less interaction between the parents and the child.
With time, as the usage of gadgets increases, children find it hard to keep up with their interactions with others. Gradually, it makes them less interactive in any aspect of their life.
Lesser interactions with those around them can also cause the kid to be socially awkward. In later life, this can also be the root cause of depression.
- Prolonged Use of Electronic Devices Cause Radiation Exposure
Cell phones and other smart devices linked to Wi-Fi or cellular networks emit harmful radiation that can negatively impact humans, especially children.
Radiations like Radio Frequency (RF) can give rise to the thermal effect, increasing body temperature.
When the exposure to these radiations is more than average, the negative impact starts affecting much deeper. It can even begin to impact the DNA of the child, which can be an underlying cause of cancer in the long run.
The risk factor becomes high when kids use gadgets plugged into the charger. The exposure to electromagnetic waves increases at this time.
Conclusion
Gadgets do not always have a destructive impact on children. If parents make it a habit to let their kids use any device limitedly, they can harness the benefits of gadgets. Especially when you have children under 5 years, they mustn’t get much exposure to these advanced gadgets.
In cases where gadget interaction becomes necessary, it is crucial to restrict the screen time so that minimum impact happens.
Thus, keeping these factors in mind, you must pick reliable gadgets for your kids and act smart in permitting them to use the devices in their daily lives for a limited time.
