Parenting in Digital Age: Navigating Technology for Child Development

The change in era has brought a significant change in the lives of parents and their children because of technology. This new time also known as the Digital Age makes it quite difficult for parents to keep children away from gadgets. Parenting in the digital age has become a challenge and to overcome this is the need of the hour.

Parenting in the digital age means setting limits, rules, and regulations for children to allow technology to help in child development instead of child deterioration. It becomes parents’ responsibility to keep a check on their children while they are using technologies, their friends, their content, and the kind of activities they indulge in—Everything should be considered while drawing limits.

It is easy to say that if chosen the right way technology can act as a crucial role player in the lives of children but to avoid its adverse effects, parents need to focus on their parenting skills.

Like any other situation, parents do get worried when they see gadgets in their child’s hands. To reduce the stress of parents and to develop a healthy environment, one should always keep certain things in mind.

Navigating the technology for child development to make parenting easy can be done in many ways such as:-

1. Set boundaries

Using technology-related equipment is a life-changing factor for children but excess of everything is bad. To avoid the hazards of technology, setting usage time limits is a must. A clear set of rules should be agreed upon by parents and children to avoid misunderstanding. Parents should keep in mind that not all gadgets have the same impact on children, so limits and duration should be kept accordingly. Restrict the use of gadgets 1 hour before and after bed, and no usage while eating meals or even before finishing homework.

2. Real-life interactions

Technology should be used in such a way that real and reel lives are differentiated well. Parenting while teaching children about technology should be done in such a way that children should get an education about real-life interactions. Children should be taught that being socially active helps enhance life skills and that people tend to live longer but it certainly doesn’t mean that one has to only stay connected with technology to socialize.

3. The right age for introduction

It is the most important part of parenting to set rules and regulations according to the age of their children. Children under the age of 24 months should not be exposed to technology at any cost, as such activities may have adverse effects on brain development (making it slow down) and maturity levels (making it increase in the wrong way). Digital advancements should be adopted by parents for their children only when kids are in genuine need of the same. Otherwise, it is better to avoid or delay the same

4. Communication

Regular communication between parents and children is a must-do thing that eases the parenting process. A healthy and informative two-way conversation is the best problem-solving technique ever. Once a parent takes the initiative of sitting down patiently with the child to have a conversation, both the parent and the child can get clarity on vital ways to survive through the digital age optimistically. Friendly communication can allow the child to share truthful information with parents, which in return can be accessed by parents to see if the digital age is working fruitfully for them or not

Real life, which is outside the gadgets, is certainly very beautiful. Hence technology should be used with proper knowledge and time.

(The author is Founder of Bachpan Play Schools and Academic Heights Public Schools, and co-founded Rishihood University and Must & More Diagnostic Center)