Your Mobile Addiction Hurts Your Child

It is not surprising that adults in our society spend too much time staring at their cell phones. It seems that the form of communication has changed and that the use of social networks and mobile phones is a priority for many people. This is quite harmful because it causes many adults to disconnect too much from reality, and what is worse, this addiction can do a lot of damage to children.

The danger of mobile addiction

Perhaps you have ever realized that while your child talks to you or wants to share experiences with you, you have caught yourself looking at your mobile and ignoring what your child is saying. This is a sad reality that many children have to live through today. But the worst is not this, the worst is that they learn that this is normal and in the future, they will too. 

It seems that mobile addiction is a common today but this does too much intellectual and emotional damage to the children of parents addicted to these devices, especially those who are younger. There are neuroscientific studies that make it clear that the first 3 years of children’s life is when they develop their linguistic, emotional, social and motor skills more quickly. 

When parents have a mobile addiction, they are putting aside experiences that will not be repeated with their children, children cannot have a quality interaction with their parents and this can cause certain emotional problems and delays in their development, such as , in the development of speech or essential social skills.

The importance of face-to-face interactions

That parents interact with their children face to face is essential for children to develop good skills and improve their learning day after day, as well as their behavior and emotional development. Children develop through quality interactions with their parents. They will learn language, emotional regulation and also to enjoy themselves as a family. 

The problem also lies in the fact that when a parent pays more attention to the mobile phone than to their children because of addiction, if their little ones try to get their attention, by having to divert their concentration from what was absorbed in them, they will tend to get angry more easily. and lose your cool with the little ones. This will cause great emotional pain in children who will not fully understand what is happening. 

A mobile addiction is synonymous with ignoring children

It’s that sad, but the reality is that children feel ignored by their parents. Parents who look like robots staring at their mobile phones all day, absorbed in a screen. In addition, when children see this happening, they will tend to behave worse to attract the attention of their parents, something that will make both of them more irritable and the tension in the environment is a habitual one. 

When an adult is answering a message, the task function in their brain is activated urgently and if it is interrupted they can treat their children badly. It is unthinkable that parents give more priority to digital activities than their own children, but unfortunately it is a reality. Children feel that they are not important to their parents, fostering feelings of rejection and seriously impairing the development of their self-esteem.

All this must change

But this little interaction with children due to mobile addiction must change. Parents must be aware of the importance of interaction with their children, they must be spoken to and listened to calmly every day of their lives. It is necessary that there are some measures so that mobile addiction is overcome and that therefore, family quality can be improved:

• Set rules and time limits for the use of mobile devices at home
• Prioritize interaction with children and put the mobile on silence while playing or interacting with children
• Set rules also for the screen time that children have, everyone must limit the addiction to screens

• Be aware of the daily encouragement that children need and of quality family time
• Set a schedule for work, there is no need to answer an email when you are with the children, that can wait
• Do not touch the mobile phone at meal times or family time