In a classroom setting, you can probably count on one finger how many children don’t have access to some sort of a computer screen. From the desktop computers to smartphones, these fixtures have become so ubiquitous that it’s hard to imagine life without them. There’s just no way around it; our internet-obsessed society revolves around these digital screens.
In a lot of ways, screen time is beneficial to child development. The internet is just too powerful a weapon that it has become a force to reckon with in the education sector to the point that specialized applications, gadgets, and devices are designed specifically with child users in mind.
However, like many things, too much of a good thing can have adverse effects too. There are often overlooked aspects with immediately detrimental effects such as poor posture when consuming media for long hours through a handheld device. But it’s the long-term negative effects that are most alarming when it comes to these gadgets.
Addiction, for example, is a very real threat to children. Aside from that, research suggests that long-term vision problems may be caused by too much screen time.
Parents and guardians must act right now to prevent these adverse effects from ever touching the lives of children.
The first and most important thing to do is to manage screen time. But this does not mean merely to limit the number of hours they spend in front of a computer screen, it also entails managing the quality of the content and the way the content is consumed.
After doing so, it is important to give children alternatives such as sport and outdoor play when they suddenly have a lot of free time due to screen time management.