Guidelines for Children Using Technology

In our previous article, we have discussed the Merits & Demerits of Technology which was in the continuation of my article Technology Gap Across Generations.  This is the last article of this series in which we will be discussing the Guidelines for Using Technology.

Just a short reminder! In this series of articles, I had tried to be more practical and share the personal daily life experiences rather than conventional information. You can easily find plenty of materials available on the internet and libraries but very few identify daily life routine issues & experiences.  In this article “Guideline for Using Technology”; again we would be discussing the common issues of daily life and try to find out a better solution that is easily understandable and applicable.

But before getting into the details, we need to know and understand a few generic statistics related to Technology and Health.

TECHNOLOGY STATISTICS

HEALTH STATISTICS

To clarify my above-mentioned stats, you may view the following video that Common Sense Census in 2015 had conducted a large-scale study to explore Tweens and Teens' media and technology usage.  It includes kids, age 8 to 18 in the US and shows the use of media and devices on daily basis.

Moreover; I want to share with you the best expert opinion with the factual study conducted & statistics about the guidelines of using technology. After my detail analysis and studied several, i explored the best among all was the Guiding Principles For The Use Of Technology With Early Learners By Education Technology. 

The departments’ four guiding principles for use of technology with early learners are as follows. These 4 guiding principles have detailed analysis with several survey reports connected therefore I have summarized them for your convenience.

I would like you all to view one more video and that is basically the survey about the parents and experts who are sharing their personal experience with their children.

If we put the guidelines, health statistics, and technology usage statistics set aside and just review our children's daily lifestyle and routine it's completely the opposite.  Most of us even not browsed or explored these kinds of text even and comparing our children's daily schedule specifically during Covid-19 lock-down is the opposite.  We must accept that our children are in the worst situation than the Common Sense Census – Tweens & Teens video.

So Let’s admit:

ü  We equip our children with technology (tab/cell phone/pc) as a status symbol more and less as a learning tool.

ü  We even had made them habitual giving our gadgets to make them sit in one place and spare us from watching TV or else

ü  Almost none of us had taught them or guided them in anything and they had explored games, youtube videos, chat, Instagram, tik talk, etc by themselves and through their age fellows or cousins – means they are completely unguided by us and may be exploited at any level

ü  Yes, we had allowed or ignore them for playing fighting & killings games like PUBG and Counter-Strike even know that it has an adverse effect on their personality

ü  Even to 1 or 2 years kid, we make them happy or quiet by providing our cell phone or tab.  They watch the screen for long hours, put it in the mouth or near the brain, knowing that mobile signals are dangerous

ü  How many of us had set with our children when they are doing class assignments or taking online classes, supported or guided them

GUIDELINES – Assuming our Scenario:

There is no standard guidelines that we shall set for all scenarios, however assuming our daily routine life and having a balanced schedule, I personally recommend the following tips:

1)      At any cost stop them playing fighting games or atleast play mild one

a)       Don’t stop them at once because they are addicted and won’t accept it.  They feel deprive because other friends and cousins are still using it.

b)              1^st step minimizes the time playing

c)              2^nd give access on one device instead of several

d)             Finally, prohibit it

2)      Make a daily schedule that is; devices are only allowed between 7-9 pm for gaming or watching their favorite app.

3)      To bring them towards a learning environment, select any learning site or video and start watching it with them for a max of 45 mins a day

4)      Ask them to learn some tools e.g. PowerPoint, Paint, Typing or in advance ages, Graphic Designing or Programming, etc.  Guide them with complete tutorial and assist them when they need it

5)      For Internet Access monitoring of your kid, it is recommended to create Gmail accounts or kids with under 13 policies.  It is not difficult, when you start creating a new email account on Gmail with the name of your kid, and when you enter your child's age (under 13) it automatically detects the account as a child and asks you or linking parent email account.  Now whatever activity your son/daughter performs on the internet, will send an alert email to the parent’s email account.  This is the shortcut or small tool for your child’s internet activity.  However; to have an eagle eye, you need to install a complete Monitoring Tool.

6)      There are various Monitoring tools/apps available on the Internet that you can use for monitoring your child activity, including:

a)               Microsoft Family Option (parent control)

b)              Google Family Link for Parents

c)               And many more

 

 

I hope it was informative!

Please do comment and share your experience.