Mobile addiction has become a serious problem not only among teenagers but among young children as well. Many parents find it difficult to control this addiction of their kids. Different reasons contribute to kids becoming more and more dependent on smartphones, such as, easy access and connectivity, availability of different online games and videos as well as the influence of adults who spend hours with their smartphones.

The fact that the average age of children using mobile phones has come down from 3-5 years to 12-18 months clearly explains the gravity of the situation.

As per a WHO guideline, infants and one year olds should not spend time looking at the electronic screens at all. Even kids of two, three and four year old should spend less than an hour/day of screen time.

Allowing too much screen time to kids is sure to cause grave damage in different ways. It weakens their eyesight and causes aggression and insomnia. Besides, obesity in kids is also associated with their increasing mobile addiction.

As per a recent survey conducted among 7,000 students of Delhi’s private schools, every third child from the lot suffers from obesity. Another study reveals that over 57% of parents in India are concerned about the effect of screen time on their kid’s eyes.

Surprisingly, in most cases the early addiction of screen time on kids, especially toddlers come from parents who handover their smartphone to the kids to keep them busy and to make them stay quiet. Gradually, a stage comes when the kid stops eating without the company of the smartphone.

Over the years, the number of screen addicted children in metropolitan cities within the age group of four-12 years has increased greatly facing issues like obesity, diabetes, aggression and sleep disorder.

The International Journal of Preventive Medicine in a report states that over 95 per cent of Indian children have mobile phones in their homes, while 73 per cent of them are mobile phone users. Most of these children are within the age group of 7 to 14 years. 

Thus, we can see how the smartphone or screen time is impacting kids greatly. However, the important question is – Can we control this addiction and how?

We all know that the lesser the screen time, the better it is for the kids in the development of their cognitive skills, improvement in motor skills and better psychosocial health

It is very important for parents to limit the screen time of their kids to help break their addiction to the smartphone. Let’s see some creative ways of doing so:

• Bring change in schedule – Change your routine life schedule and get involved in interesting activities with your kids, keeping aside the smartphone. When kids have interesting things to do, they will not get attracted to electronic gadgets.
• Be the model – Set example by leaving your smartphone, laptop etc., aside for a few hours during the day and spend time with family. Look for other sources of entertainment to keep you and your kids busy during such time.
• Keep gadgets away – Keep your smartphone and other such gadgets in a place away from children’ reach so that they cannot access it easily
• Don’t rely too much on online sources – Don’t make learning from watching videos or online sources a habit for your kid. Give them the opportunity to express their creativity freely and do things on their own.

• Encourage outdoor activities – Encourage kids to play outdoor games with other kids in the park or in the neighborhood.
• Play imaginary games – Engage kids in social learning in a fun way. Let them play imaginary games with their peers.
• Learn activities – Involve your kids in different activities like sports, crafts, drawing, music etc. so that they stay busy with learning based activities.

Let the young kids play, shout, explore and do all sorts of crazy things that young kids of their age are supposed to do. Give them free space and time rather than binding them to the smartphones. By spending more and more time with them and letting them do different interesting things, you can limit (if not completely but to a great extent) the screen time of your kids.