Parenting
Children's Overuse and Abuse of Technology
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may already know that I write frequently about kids and technology. Most recently covering such wide ranging topics as cyber bullying and the latest kid-friendly iPhone & iPad apps. Most recently, I posted about how to shop smart for kids tech gifts during the holidays.
Above: MBE's 18 Month-old Triplets are Attentive Computer Students
A Mom Weighs in on Kids and Technology Use
MBE partnered with Dr. Schwarz for this story, post contains affiliate links
Having just read Dr. Eitan Schwarz's book myself Kids, Parents & Technology: A Guide for Young Families (available in soft cover and Kindle) I feel a strong need to comment on how invaluable I think this title is to parents with children growing up in today's digital age.
Dr. Schwarz gets right to the point in the preface of the book. He says that we parents need help to manage our kids' usage of technology and we must take a more proactive role in encouraging our children to use it wisely.
Dr. Schwarz gets right to the point in the preface of the book. He says that we parents need help to manage our kids' usage of technology and we must take a more proactive role in encouraging our children to use it wisely.
Organized into three sections: Setup & Quick Start Guide, User's Guide, and Food for Thought, this book is one that I wish had been sent home with me from the hospital after the arrivals of my triplets and their big brother, all four who are now teenagers.
A moment later that same orderly kiddie computer lab overseen by their mom, turned into a three-ring Circus
Child Psychiatrist on Solutions to Tech Overuse, Abuse
Now, without further adieu, here is Dr. Schwarz's own thoughts which I'd like to share with you. I hope you learn as much (or even more) from this than I have.
"In actuality," Schwarz explains, "the topic of how to guide children to use technology wisely is a subject of widespread interest with great ramifications for the future. Younger and younger children are now in charge of how they consume media, and they are mostly consuming junk."
"Surveys," he points out, "show that older kids currently spend over 50 hours a week on electronic devices and this is increasing. In fact, family interactions, imaginative play, and grades actually tend to drop when media usage increases. Further, excessive consumption can cause emotional difficulties, as well as result from existing ones.
Dr. Schwarz concludes, "Certainly, children need the thoughtful, active and positive guidance of their parents in this amazing Wild-West tech environment. Merely restricting access is not enough and I recommend that parents begin when your child is an infant, gradually decreasing their supervision and participation as the youngster grows older. For every age group, there is a world of fun Internet sites and electronic games that can contribute to a child's development."
Dr. Schwarz's Six Ways to
Aid A Child's Growth Through Tech
 | |
| Eitan Schwarz, MD - Photo from My Digital Family |
- Take Charge - Have confidence and take command. You can manage this important area of your kids lives because you have the home-court advantage. Many parents too readily take a back seat and let kids take the lead. Think about it: in what other important areas of life would you normally let that happen?
- Think of Media as Appliances - Start thinking of media as family appliances that must have positive values. Kids treat media as toys, but they are in fact adult tools with enormous power. Would you let your unsupervised young child use the telephone or oven? Only devices with proven benefits belong in children's hands.
- Remember, Technology is Healthy - From infancy onwards, teach your youngster to appreciate technology as a healthy and routine part of family life. Starting young, children will learn that using technology is collaborative and social -- not an isolating solitary activity.
- Include the Whole Family - Create a new environment around the online family computer and other media to promote mutuality, fun, respect, and development for the entire familial group. Moving the home computer away from the wall and arranging seating all around it will make it a popular center for family life for both kids and parents.
- Make Media a Positive Learning Tool - Just as you already shop for healthy food, harvest the positive opportunities offered by media. For every age group there are many wonderful Internet sites, apps, and downloadable software for the home computer that offer a world of learning entertainment experiences.
- Create Healthy Media Plans - Like you do meal plans, tailor media use into daily menus for each child to provide growth opportunities. One way to do this is to regularly require enough online time on activities that actually enhance good values and education enrichment.
About Eitan Schwarz, MD FAACAP DLFAPA
Recognizing the educational power of audio and visual devices, Dr. Schwarz, who is board-certified in general and child and adolescent psychiatry, conveys his messages through a series of videos: some for parents, some for children on Mydigitalfamily.org Dr. S, as he is known to his young patients, has been a practicing psychiatrist serving families and their children for nearly 40 years. He is a graduate of Cornell and Johns Hopkins Medical School. He has been head of the child and adolescent psychiatric division at Evanston Hospital and is currently on the faculty of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
What ways have worked for you as a parent to help your child harness everything that the Internet, computers, and digital technology have to offer?
MBE is an Amazon Advertising Affiliate partner and we receive a bit of compensation, at no extra cost to you, when an Amazon purchase is made through links in this post.