Using smartphone too early is extremely harmful for the development of children, this is something that any parents believe. Even so, American Academy of Pediatrics - AAP is trying to change the position of the parents on this issue.
A meeting was organized by the AAP for educators, pediatricians, neurologists, specialists to study the problem of communication and social science experts in early May. Most of the participants had a more comfortable position than on the issue of allowing children to use the equipment and technology from a young age. These findings were presented at an event called “Growing Up Digital: Media Research Symposium”, in which the experts shared their views on the benefits and risks for children when they used smart devices early.
If you go back in time, in a 2013 article, the AAP advised parents not to allow children to expose to technological devices with displays such as smart phones, tablets, especially children under two years old, and remove the TV with the electronic devices connected to the Internet out of kids’ bedrooms. The research was widely popular, leading to destructive wave of the arrival of the smart devices around children, even overshadowed the positive effects of these devices. Although the AAP also said besides the harms, technology items also had good sides. But due to the psychological anxiety for the child, the parents had negative thoughts about this issue.
Thus the AAP seemed to have accepted that the mobile devices were almost everywhere and now they believe that, if handled properly, these smart devices do not pose a threat to the development of children. AAP has done research in both 2014 and 2015, the results showed that a third of children under three years old had televisions in their bedroom and 72% of children aged from 6 to 17 years of age had at least one smart device with screen and Internet connection in their bedrooms.
Since then, the AAP concluded it was no longer a question of how parents would limit the emergence of smart devices in the range their children’s lives but how to use these items reasonably. AAP also pointed out the benefits of letting children contact with technology was that they would have a chance to practice practical skills for life, such as the ability to control the behavior and explore options to address the problem. Besides, parents guiding their children to use technology items could increase the ability to absorb and learn for them. In addition, experts found that parents and children using together would tighten cohesion among the members of family. However, AAP recommended parents had to control their behavior to avoid the situations of neglecting children besides smartphone without spending time with them.
Finally, AAP confirmed smartphone or tablet would promote their interests if the parents treated them as tools to support the development of children and “did not blame the technology if you could not spend time for your children but buy them expensive phones.”
0 Comments