5 Simple Tips to Stop Mobile Phone Addiction in Children

In today’s era, everything has gone online, and keeping children away from a screen is a challenge for parents. It is well known that irresponsible use of media can lead to so much harm in children. However, media also use is not without benefit. Smartphones/tablets, ipads, and television are also becoming important tools of learning for children. It is usually the parents who introduce media to children without a plan and once the child becomes addicted to media then they look for ways to take him off media. In the following article, I will try to discuss how we can create a plan so that my young infant doesn’t become a media addict child tomorrow. My focus will be primarily on prevention so that we stop mobile phone addiction in children later.

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1. Do not introduce smartphones early not before 18 months

A baby should not be exposed to media until around 18 months of age except for video calls.  Even when we introduce media at this age it has to be a limited amount and should be high-quality media of educational value. Sit with your child and watch media together so that you can help him or her understand what is on the screen. It is usually us parents who introduce phones as ‘interesting’ devices to our babies to calm them down. Then they start cribbing for it. One thing leads to another and a few years down the line we are in a big soup.

However, many a time complete abstinence maybe not be possible and become a means of a power struggle between baby and the parents. Our aim is not to abide by the AAP guidelines word by word but the focus should be to understand the principles and potential for harm and to stop mobile phone addiction in children as early as possible.

2. Use limited introduction of media to reduce mobile phone addiction

You should introduce a limited amount of high-quality media of educational value. Say some video related to learning number counting, color or shape recognition, nursery rhymes, etc. However, the length of such videos should be limited and can be escaped slowly when your baby has finished learning one.

3. Keep your mobile internet or wifi off

When you are introducing media, it is a good idea to download the media on your phone and keep it. If you are using a youtube or other online resource then see whether you can keep it downloaded for offline use. If you keep the mobile internet on your baby can quickly learn to navigate out into ‘untested waters’. As babies are very curious little beings they are more likely to get glued to your phone if they have unlimited access to fresh content rather than a limited video. This is a great way to stop mobile phone addiction right in the beginning.

4. Act as a role model

As your baby grows older he/she will learn to imitate you and learn from what you do. So it is important to have rules in place which you will also have to abide by. Restricting your avoidable media usage time is good for you and also allows you extra time to play with your child. These times of interactions with your child are so crucial in development with your child and an important step towards creating a parent-child relationship the value of which is often underestimated.

5. Maintain smartphone rule and TV schedule:

Maintaining a media use plan at home. Say

• Don’t use a phone at home when your baby is around unless a call comes.
• No TV or Phones on Dinning
• No TV or phone before sleep (Is your baby sleeping enough? Learn how much sleep your baby needs)
• Don’t give in to the unreasonable demands of your baby

Watch media with your baby

Watch media with your baby. You can help the bay understand what he or she is watching. Also, instead of your baby glued to the media, you can spend some fun time watching smartphone videos or TV together.

Create a media use plan

Preparing a formal family media plan helps you to curb this mobile menace at bay in a systematic way and help your child learn safe and responsible media use from the very beginning. Learn how to create a family media plan here

Do not use Media / Smartphone as reward or Distraction:

As parents, we realize that keeping children off media is a tough task. Given the potential educational value of media, Total abstinence in children’s life is neither doable nor desirable. However, Given the potential harm in children, moderation has to be the key. Though we as parents may not follow the

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