Dr. Nicholas Cardaras: "It's digital heroin!" That’s why psychiatrists ask to protect the child from smartphones.

Remember your childhood: sitting in a sandbox, building sand castles, or playing war games with the neighbors. A beautiful childhood with unforgettable memories. What now? Everywhere you look, there are kids staring at their smartphones and greedily tapping something on the screen.

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Many parents buy their child a smartphone in elementary school. On the one hand, it is a wonderful means of communication with the child. On the other hand, the advantages of owning a smartphone more than overlap with significant disadvantages, which the editorial board "Site" He'll tell you today.

The famous American narcologist Dr. Nicholas Cardaras is convinced that the total fascination of children with gadgets causes a strong psychological dependence. He compares addiction to mobile devices to drug addiction. He is seriously engaged in research on the issue of digital addiction in children and has written a book “Lighting children”, which tells why parents should protect their children from smartphones.



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The doctor says, “I consider all these devices — smartphones, laptops, tablets, game consoles — a new form of drugs.” And he's right about something, because recent studies based on brain scans have shown that using gadgets stimulates the frontal lobe too much. A similar effect is seen from cocaine use.

The use of smartphones so overexcites children that they increase the level of dopamine in the blood. Alcohol and drugs have the same effect. Smartphones are also addictive.





DepositPhotos It Can harm! Hundreds of studies prove that overuse of gadgets increases the risk of depression, anxiety and aggression. Subsequently, it can even cause mental disorders in the child. Through the tablet, the child gets the opportunity to plunge into a world where you can always do and receive something new. It’s great to get results with just one click of a button.

Kids get used to it instantly, such an interactive toy very quickly fascinates them. It is very difficult to give up, especially children. Unlike adults, they do not know how to control their impulses and desires. I wanted to, I got it. From this and the greatest harm: smartphones do not teach children self-control, they give the opportunity not to limit themselves in desires. That's how addiction comes about.



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And addiction is just one of the negative consequences of children’s overuse of gadgets. What else could that be fraught with? Let's figure it out.

1. Physical health
   Long-term use of gadgets adversely affects the health of the child. Constant staring at the screen leads to myopia, vision deteriorates. The neck suffers no less. As a result of the fact that the child is in one position, bowing his head down, curvature of the spine and osteochondrosis may develop. In addition, children who spend a lot of time on a tablet or phone, reduce their motor activity, become sluggish and sedentary. And they also like to chew something delicious, stuck in their gadgets. All this leads to overweight.
   
   
   
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2. Relationships with parents
   Scientists say that the brain of a child should increase three times between birth and two years. And constant communication with parents contributes to this. It is important for the child to hear the voice of parents, interact with them, then connections are established in the brain that help to establish emotional contacts with other people. When parents give a child a phone just to distract him, and do their own business, the time spent with the child is reduced. Some parents abuse this. It is so convenient: the child is busy, does not cry or moody. But this way you increase the risk that in the future the child will have problems with communication, the formation of personal relationships and low self-esteem in addition.
   
   
   
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3. Hysterics.
   A smartphone becomes a child’s favorite toy in the blink of an eye. And when this happens, parting with a funny tsack child does not want. First resentment, anger, rage, and then hysteria, which is not so easy to appease. Therefore, it is worth thinking carefully before giving a child a gadget just to distract him. Is it worth the short respite of subsequent tantrums?
   
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4. Learning difficulties
   Studies have confirmed that children who are excessively fond of gadgets do not learn well. Attention gets worse, they can’t focus on anything, they are constantly distracted by the little things. Often there are problems with memory, imagination, imagination. In the end, the desire to learn, to obtain knowledge yourself, completely disappears. Motivation for learning decreases.
   
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5. Worsening sleep
   Games on the phone before bedtime excite the nervous system, causing difficulty falling asleep and restless sleep. The light emitted by the screen suppresses the production of the hormone melatonin, which knocks down the sleep-wake cycle. It is better to replace games on the tablet with reading books.
   
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But you can not say that the smartphone is an absolute evil. Of course not. There are also obvious advantages of a smartphone for a child. First, parents have a constant opportunity to contact the child, as well as track his location. This will help the parents to be calmer and the child to feel safe.

In addition, when communicating in various messengers, the child learns to briefly and clearly formulate his thoughts, which is very useful. A lot of useful and educational games will help the child to gain new skills, it will give scope to imagination and imagination. And, frankly, it is simply impossible not to use a smartphone in the modern world. Being able to use gadgets, the child will not become an outcast among peers, he will be able to stay on the same wavelength with them.





DepositPhotos Editorial Board So what should parents do? To prohibit the use of a smartphone at all or to let everything take its course? Neither. In the education of children should not go to extremes. Of course, you should let your child use a smartphone, study, but not too early. Do not push the phone into the hands of a one-year-old child just to distract his attention. In a year, a child can show so much interesting things in the familiar world around us, it does not need smartphones.

Then, when the baby grows up, you can introduce him to the world of gadgets. But here it is necessary to observe moderation and strictly limit the time of using the smartphone. Draw the child’s attention to more active activities: walks in nature, sports, joint games. You need to interest the child, show that there are classes much more interesting than the tablet. When your child asks you to play with them, don’t refuse to play with them.

Encourage your child to find a hobby that will help them develop. After all, the dominance of digital gadgets has significantly reduced the interest of children in sports competitions, music, walks in nature, the study of science and literature. Because of smartphones, the range of interests has narrowed to social networks and online games. And it is parents who need to take responsibility and protect their children from the harmful effects of smartphones and tablets.

This is a very serious problem and should not be ignored. The sooner you start taking action, the sooner there will be a positive effect and lower the risk. The future of the child is in your hands!



What do you think about the harm of smartphones to children? How do you deal with this problem? Share with us in the comments!