Happy #InternationalChildrensDay! I love that we have a day to celebrate our beautiful children in the same way that we celebrate Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day and even Grandparents’ Day. My Angels are all mothers and we tend to talk a lot about our babies and how different they are on comparison to when we were younger. The internet “always” comes up in conversation.
Luminaries use the internet more as a source of information, whereas Millennials use the internet as a life source. As we celebrate our children do you ever think about how the internet and apps etc are actually forcing our babies to grow up quicker than we would like them to and could actually be robbing them of their childhood??
Our children’s minds are being influenced by outside role models at a much higher level than previous generations. Now, I love technology with a passion; I have an iPhone which syncs to my iPad and the majority of my life is organised between these two gadgets, and I use them for work as labour saving devices.
However, the focus on technology for our young children and teenagers takes a different angle and the general feeling of parents is that we no longer have the upper hand in nurturing our children. The chore has become “heavy” and this heaviness creates a wide berth between parent and child which appears to be getting wider. Language barriers are higher; if children need answers to questions they simply ask Google, their new BFF! There are even opportunities to create friendships(!) online.
Childline counsellors say social media is leading youngsters to make unrealistic comparisons about their lives, that leave them feeling ugly, unpopular and isolated.
Adapting to a technology focused world.
Screens, screens everywhere! Phones and tablets fill our faces, our minds, and our lives with data, and we’ll talk data use soon. And as for children spending an increasing amount of time staring at screens it’s becoming a particularly insidious act.
A new study found that children today are struggling with “loneliness or deep levels of unhappiness” due to the time spent on the Internet. Loneliness is not a new thing, but it seems that technology takes it to a whole new level. Some children spend hours and hours without speaking to another person whilst their face is staring at a screen.
Technology will continue to be a part of most children’s lives, in useful (and useless) ways, but teaching our children how to step away from their screens, and gravitate towards what can be felt and cultivated in the offline world is vital to their mental health.
Do you limit your children’s screen time? Are you in a position to limit your children’s screen time? Have you struggled in this area like a large percentage of parents have? I think it’s vital that we talk about this – join the discussion Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram.
