Parents’ faults must not fall on their children. Yet, a study visible on BMC Pediatrics He explains that the habit of mom and dad to “shake” the smartphone, remaining online or on long screens, pushes children to implement bad conduct, such as watching films and video games for minors. The research, which examined the data of over 10 thousand children aged between 12 and 13, coming from the National Cognitive Development National Study Brain Study, the most relevant long -term work in the United States on the development of the brain, then reveals that two thirds of pre -adolescents (between 11 and 12 years of age) has an account on social media.
Of course, most platforms take to be at least 13 years old. Limit, the latter, set by the protecting Kids on Social Media Act for the use of apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok. But it is not enough, being a widely circumvented border. And while in France the Prime Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digitization, Clara Chappaz, remarks the Government’s will to prohibit social media for children under 15 years of age, in Spain a committee of experts publishes a report to protect minors from the use of the screens. Reiterating: “The smartphone and social media create addiction”.
Families on the net
Tornado to the American study, from the intersection of the responses of parents and children, the team of researchers discovered that perceiving their parent “connected” too long, induces children to feel free to behave online as they believe. Questions have been formulated like “I limit the time in front of the screen when I am with my son?”, Or (towards the children) “Do you happen to look at prohibited films for minors?” Or “How often do you play video games not suitable for your age?”. Thus emerging the link between the habits of the parents and the incorrect conduct of their children.
“The intent was precisely to investigate the rules that parents followed in their daily life and the consequent relationship of the children with the media”, the comment of the first signatory of the study, Dr. Jason Nagata of the University of California of San Francisco. The research has shown that both the constant use of screens by parents and the practice of spending online meals in the family “anticipated”, in some way, the incorrect behavior of the children in front of smartphones and tablets. In addition, the study underlines that punishing the boys by limiting them the use of the screens induces them, it induces them to watch films and video games not suitable for them. And this is both in spite of and in an attempt to find an easy evasion.
Just as the Moige (Italian parents movement) explains in an article on his blog, “parents must be careful not to be inconsistent in their behavior. If they ask the children to limit the use of the phone, it is important that they themselves give the example, avoiding excessive and visible use of the device, and that they do not interrupt the dialogue with them to view or respond to messages or calls”. And again, “parents should encourage activities that do not involve the smartphone, such as sport, reading, music, walks or other passions that can distract teenagers from the continuous temptation to use the phone”.
Effects of smartphones
Marina Terragni, the authority for children and adolescence, also warns the excessive use of electronic family devices. Explaining that “a recent research by the Universities of Pavia and Bicocca in Milan, together with the IRCCS Mondino, shows that the immoderate use of the smartphone by the parents can greatly disturb the very first relationships between them and the newborn, producing in him a physiological response assimilable to physical or mental stress”. The research, published in the magazine Biological Psychologyfaces the incidence of the use of devices at first, delicate interactions between mother and newborn, through an innovative approach.
“These results suggest that even short interruptions of the interaction, such as those caused by the use of the smartphone, can condition the quality of the emotional exchanges between parent and child”, explains Dr. Sarah Nazzari, the first author of the research. Without forgetting that, already in 2020, a Milan-Bicocca study, visible on Journal of Social and Personal Relationshipsrevealed that the pervasive use of digital tools, even during the traditionally reserved moments for relationships, has negative contracts on the psychological well -being of young people. Especially in adolescence.
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