Your Cell Phone Addiction Is Hurting Your Child

It’s no secret that adults in today’s society spend too much time looking at their phones. The means of communication seem to have changed and social media and mobile phones are a priority for many people. This is very harmful as it causes a disconnection from reality for many adults. Even worse, this cell phone addiction can really hurt your kids.

The Danger of Cell Phone Addiction

You may have noticed it yourself at some point. While your child is talking or sharing experiences with you, you find yourself looking at your phone and ignoring what your child is saying. It is a sad reality that many children face today. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they learn that this is normal and they will do the same in the future.

Cell phone addiction seems to have become a commonplace nowadays. But the intellectual and emotional damage to children of addicted parents is too great, especially for very small children. Neuroscientific studies have shown that in the first three years of a child’s life, their linguistic, emotional, social and motor skills are developed most rapidly.

When parents have a cell phone addiction, they miss opportunities with their child that they can never repeat. Their children cannot have good quality interactions with their parents. All of this can cause emotional problems and developmental delay in areas such as speech or indispensable social skills.

The importance of face-to-face interaction

Parents should interact with their children face-to-face so that the little ones develop good habits and improve their learning day by day. The same goes for their behavior and their emotional development. Children develop through good interactions with their parents. They learn the language, emotional regulation and they also learn how to enjoy time with family.

The problem also lies in the fact that if a mother pays more attention to her phone than she does to her children, these little ones will try to get her attention. By distracting her attention, she will easily get angry and lose her cool with her little ones. This can cause great emotional pain for the children, who do not understand what is going on.

A cell phone addiction is synonymous with ignoring your child

It sounds awful, but the truth is that these kids feel ignored by their parents. Plus, if they understand what’s going on, they’ll tend to behave even worse to get their parents’ attention. This will then lead to both parties becoming even more irritable and tension will become a normal thing.

When an adult replies to a message, it activates the urgent task function in their brain. If they are interrupted, they can mistreat their children. It is actually inconceivable that parents pay more attention to digital activities than to their own children, but this is an unfortunate reality. Children feel that they are unimportant to their parents.  This leads to feelings of rejection and wreaks havoc on the development of their self-esteem.

This has to change

This lack of interaction with children due to cell phone addiction needs to change. Parents should be aware of the importance of interacting with their children. They should talk to them calmly and listen to them. Every day in their lives.

Certain measures should be taken to overcome cell phone addiction and thereby improve the quality of family life:

• Set firm rules and deadlines at home regarding the use of mobile devices.
• Prioritize interacting with your kids. Mute your phone when you play or interact with your kids.

• Also set rules regarding the screen time your kids have. Everyone should limit their screen time.
• Be aware of your child’s need for daily stimulation and quality family time.
• Set up a schedule for your work. You don’t have to answer emails when you are with your kids. That can wait.
• Do not touch your cell phone during meals or family time.