The not so perfect pacifier

Modern day technology comes in a fit-all size. Smartphones, tablets, palmtops or laptops, make your choice. The younger generation has ofcourse made its own. With toddlers and children replacing their tricycle time with the latest tabs and smartphones, parents too have chosen to bypass the arduous task of engaging their kids the old way. A tab has now effortlessly replaced pacifiers and colored books. Good, you say. But a new research Jounal Pediatriacs may disappoint you.

Handing over smartphones or tablets to a demanding child can seriously stunt their social and emotional development. While many parents are actively engaging their children with computer games hoping to jog their grey cells, the study comes to show that all is not well with this shortcut. Psychiatrists argue that this habit is detrimental to child development and may harm the process of self-regulation.

Parents on the other hand believe in giving their children access to digital devices and offloading the burden of babysitting whilst providing their child a chance to dabble with educative technology. “Using a smart phone or tablet to distract kids from mundane tasks might seem like a great option initially but it will make them somber and lazy”, says Dr Arpitha Sharma a clinical psychiatrist. Engaging with electronic devices for long periods of time not only turns the habit into an addiction but also hinders the overall growth of the child and makes him susceptible to behavioural and mental disorders, she adds.

This has become a popular way of pacifying and distracting a kid. But parents, psychiatrists believe, don’t realise that such methods do not allow the child to develop their own internal mechanism of self-regulation. “There was a time when the television time was offered as a reward or merely a means to pacify a cranky child. This had already proved detrimental to child’s language and social skill development. Now mobile media has come to replace the time spent in human to human interaction”, says Anangha Seth, a psychology practitioner.

The study also highlights that regular use of devices may replace hands-on activities important for the development of sensorimotor and visual-motor skills, which are important for learning and application of math and science. Digital technology comes with some serious consequences that will take several heavy-duty measures to undo. An adult may still practice control against over-usage or addiction of electronic devices. But a child is not armed with a compass to tell a good habit from a bad one. By the time parents realise the harm done to the young mind, the habit will have become an addiction and forceful control over the habit may leave the child surprised.

“Where the age band of four to ten is vital for a child to develop awareness of its surroundings, interact with it and discover new things, the precious time is spent away in front of a computer or a tablet. This habit adversely affects the bone density and muscle growth”,says Krishna Chaitanya, a paediatric practitioner. “Forceful withdrawal of these digital devices after the development of addiction will only subject the child to depression.

There are several cases of kids displaying mood swings and aggressive behaviour in response to such discipline”, says Dr Sreenivas, a clinical psychiatrist with KIMS. He also stresses that electromagnetic radiation emitted from digital devices like TV, smartphone and tablets are not only harmful for mental development of the kids but also increase chances of mutation in them thereby subjecting them to life-threatening disorders.

“Not only children below the age of ten, we suggest that even expecting mothers avoid using smartphones or other electronic devices as they increase the chances of cancer in both the mother and the child”, claims Dr Sreenivas. Technology is indeed a powerful tool but it comes with certain dangerous vices. In a world where the grown-ups feed on smartphones and social media and often themselves exhibit signs of mental disorders, one can only understand the adverse impact such a strong medium can have on tender minds.

The double edged tool can definitely be used to introduce children to the new world of technology and heighten their senses to embrace the changes it, but one must guard them from compromising equally important social and physical activities that aid in natural and crucial growth of the child.

By:Vaishnavi Girish