Do You Allow Your Babies Have Screen Time?
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Sep 11, 2024 Filed to: Screen Time Control Proven solutions
- With every day becoming more hectic, crying babies' sound adds to the fun in our lives. To handle that, you give them gadgets as in mobile Phones or Televisions or Tablets. Anything that gives a fair amount of screen time for babies is an excellent choice to do that?
Babies are very young human beings, and the thought of developing their character and lifestyle just because of some screen time exposure sounds illogical or buffoonery. But according to some valid studies, screen time for babies isn't a good idea for their developing brains.
Do you know how much screen time your babies have every day?
Life with each day is getting more burdens and responsibilities, and the responsibility of taking care of their children, more importantly, babies is a lot of stress. To cut that stress, you try to get them hooked on some fun and enjoyable screen time. Screen Time for babies and toddlers was a lot less issue back in the days but is getting discussed for some recent years. So, what do the stats tell us about these kids?
According to a Common Sense Media Report, screening time for babies and toddlers is around 42 minutes. And another report by the same organization also tells that screen time for babies on mobile devices is getting more and more, which was 4 percent in 2011 compared to 35 percent in the current date.
Now blaming you or any other parent won't solve a thing, but one thing is for sure: you should keep an eye, or your main concern in the house is what type of content your babies watch and how much watch. According to research, on average, Babies watch 10 to 20 minutes of their day, which amounts to 121 hours straight per year.
Why Babies Need more real Live experience, not screens?
Now life will never be comfortable, not even for the parents and even for the babies when they grow up, but they still need to learn stuff that could help them survive in this world. Gadgets such as mobile devices and tablets don't necessarily do that. According to Carlota Nelson, director of Documentary Brain Matters, Babies don't learn much from machines or gadgets; they still need to learn basic stuff from real life and real humans.
These Screens take away their attention from the real world, which is especially dangerous for a child's mind as it needs to develop and grow into a much healthy one. They need to absorb their surroundings and environment. Screen time for babies also takes away their boredom, which does sound fun, but the after-results don't. Boredom teaches the patience to deal with frustrations and to control their emotions. And the most critical one screen time for babies proves that they get slow in language development because they were not exposed to a large variety of human emotions and phrases.
Social Skills are primarily affected by these over screen times. By not talking with other children and glued to their screens, they don't develop the required confidence to talk to them and thus always feel lonely even if they have many friends on social platforms or gaming communities.
You should be knowledgeable about the harmful effects of screen time for babies. Teach them new skills on the internet instead of some rubbish material, which is just feeding nonsense in their brains and stopping them from developing into great children of the future.
These little to some amounts of screen time for babies may look less harmful to you right now, but this could turn into an addiction for some as they try to get glued to their screens for as long as possible to have a bit more fun.
Recommended screen times for babies?
Screen Time for babies is an unavoidable thing to do nowadays. In some way or another, their exposure to the internet or screens is something that's going to happen. But here's the kicker: You have the authority as a parent to limit the time for screen time for babies. There should be a limit on what they see on the internet, and after their time limit, they should instead opt for something else. The experts' recommended screen time is absolutely 0 seconds since babies from 0 to 18 months shouldn't have screen time, but that time is spent interacting with their environment.
Screen Time limitation to 0 may be impossible for some parents who have already enough with their burdens and stress and therefore needs some their own quiet time or peacetime so, for them, they can find it in another way by letting them watch high-quality educational stuff on the internet but to some limit because still screen time is not a recommended thing to do. Watching educational videos or clips doesn't cancel out the effects it has on their brains.
Tips for Parents
Now, if all screen time for babies is terrible but some amount is adequate to some extent with conditions, what should you do as a parent and how much should you do so they don't rely heavily on screens for enjoyment; not a lot as a parent of a child who is barely five months or seven months old. Advancements in technology and the internet don't mean it has its benefits for you and your lives. The trick is to control the power of technology according to your rules.
1. Distract them with other alternative activities
Other things like sports or indoor games or the best of all, literature. Now you shouldn't force them; they should look after and seek out their own fun screen-alternative. You never know, this type of activity may just bring out their hidden talent in them, whether as an athlete or a novelist. They can find better hobbies than just looking in front of the screens all day. Hope for the best.
2. Don't make children rely on screens.
Screen time for babies doesn't have to mean a thing if you just don't get them the stuff all the time that they need or for which they are crying or creating a ruckus. Instead, distract him/her with a book reading or by singing a lullaby to soothe yourself and the baby.
3. Make sure the content is suitable for babies
Well, now some tips if you just can't avoid screen time for babies. First and foremost, always let them age-appropriate shows. If you love a show but could be a little grown-up for your babies and toddlers, you could record it or just watch it when there aren't any babies around you.
Ample screen time for babies may prove very harmful, yet it depends on how strict you are with your rules regarding screen time for babies. Set a rule for example using the phone only for calls to loved ones and not back out from those rules. You are the boss of the house; if your rules don't mean a thing, whose does?
The best way you can limit or finish screen time for babies is to install a parental control Application on your devices that mostly comes in babies' hands. Parental Control apps are now available on every channel of media. They are like the need of the hour since your device is in the hands of the children and your data. So, to save that, you are really going to need a useful Application on parental Control.
Here is the kicker start for you, you get to be already satisfied in the application area. FamiSafe is a website and an Application that provides you with tools and features that could help you limit screen time for babies and digital security for your family. From monitoring screen time to block devices, it has all the perks you need. You can use this app to limit screen time for babies and children when they grow up. FamiSafe is easy to install on your mobile devices as it is available on Android, IOS, and Amazon App Store. Or you could sign-up from their website and start their free trial.
Now, this all shouldn't be a concern if it was a time before all of this sudden technological wave. But technology has also made our lives easier, so blaming stuff on them is kind of irresponsible for an adult to do. So, it depends on how you could limit screen time for babies and control what they are watching on their screens.
You can't force your rules, nor should you focus on children as they are just experiencing new things, so most you could do is find ways to distract them from these screens of theirs just to give them an alternative way of having fun enjoyment in their lives. But still, the most fun and enjoyable thing you could do is just spend time with your babies; it doesn't require any type of subscription.
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Moly Swift
staff Editor