Technology has paved its way into every walk of life. It has altered industries and has transferred markets up to a great level. From being the ultimate source to spread information to become the most commonly used means of establishing communications with each other, it has taken over the world with its un-ignorable benefits.
The usage of technology is evident from the fact that 2.71 billion people around the globe have a smartphone. An average kid of age 12 owns a smartphone. Moreover, 92% of Americans believe that smartphones are a real addiction. The first thing in the morning they do after opening their eyes is to check the notifications their lock screen reveals.
That’s how huge and massive technology is being used today. So, now think of the impact it creates on a human life including his physical and mental health. What if we shrink our evaluation to kids and learn about the impact of technology on kids’ mental health? So, here is a short guide that indicates how emerging technologies transforming healthcare industry create an impact on kid’s mental health.
Ways Technology Impacts A Kid’s Health
Children with an excessive habit of using technology especially tablets, iPhone and smartphones have shown many severe lacking in terms of mental health. Many associations have come up with researches that guide the parents to limit their screen time and encourage them to get involve in other physical activities or to practice smart brain developing exercise.
Source: graphs.net
As you can see clearly how common it has become to give away smartphone to kids. They being naive cannot understand how to limit and what to watch and what not to. Everything begins to create an imprint on their little mind. As you know even the animated movies are full of negativity-inducing subliminal messages, it’s imperative to keep a check on your kid’s activities.
Screen Time
Do you find kids at your home sticking their eyes to the smartphone or tablet screen? Do you fear that technology might leave a negative impact on their kid’s wellbeing even if it’s about watching excessive television screen from a certain distance? Well, all your fears are true up to a great extent.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents to limit the screen time to an hour or two. They should not be allowed for more than two hours every day. It would be best if they break the time into smaller sessions. Kids under the age of five should be curious and more physically active. By indulging in smartphones, it will limit their physical activities. Their body might not get exhausted and they will end up becoming more cranky for their parents.
Trigger Aggression
The way technology is being used so commonly it is predicted to spread its wonder even more. From the use of Xbox to the indulgence into the immersive games using headsets and VR it’s expected that technology will trigger aggression among kids.
Virtual reality takes you away from the real world. It augments you into an environment that not really exists. When a kid is involved experiencing a virtual world more often he will begin to get disconnected with the reality. It will create a sense of confusion in his mind. He would wish to do things that were possible in the virtual world but is impossible practically. This chaos between distinguishing what possible and what’s not will make him more aggressive and he would rather prefer to stay lost in the virtual world for longer.
Lack of Confidence
If you focus on the activities of kids these days, you can predict what’s going to happen in the coming years. According to the statistics, around 76% of parents have helped their kids in setting up their social media accounts. When gets get involved on social media, they get exposed to things they are not supposed to in many cases.
As platforms like Facebook allows you to be friends with anyone no matter to what age he or she belongs, that friend will share stuff that he likes and when your kid will check, it out it might create a negative impact in his mind. Moreover, kids who are involved in social media platforms become insensitive. If you ponder on the graph pasted below you will find the preferences of kids for their favourite social media platform.
Source: Statista
An enhanced exposure to the fancy lifestyle that people brag on social media will influence a kid to have a low self-esteem. They will shut themselves out and will look down upon the things they acquire.
Technology and Narcissism
In the next decade, it’s expected to find narcissistic traits in kids. Their craving to get instant recognition and approval upon everything they post will make them fond of getting only gratifications. If you have noticed many people simply hit the like button without even checking out a post. Now the one posting it gets an impression that the post is amazing. When a person becomes habitual of getting easy appreciations, he begins to invest little to no efforts. Such attitude proves to be harmful in the long run.
Cognitive Losses
As per the Chinese study, kids getting involved in excessive use of technology have a lack of white and grey matter in the cognitive area of their brain. Now look around, you will find every other kid burying his or her head into their smartphones or wearing the unavoidable VR headsets. Technology will ruin brain development making them limit their power of intelligence.
Depression and Anxiety
When your kid spends time using technology whether a smartphone or any kind of device that indulge him completely he may begin to adopt habits that are not good for his health. Hey may have irregular speeding patterns and spend the nights awake avoiding the daylight. All of it causes depression and anxiety among teens.
Winding Down
The world is facing a large-scale transformation where new forms of technology are surfacing. From the increased use of artificial intelligence to AR-integrated games, limiting the use of it is simply impossible. The best thing one can do is to analyse and make good use of technology.