With the world becoming more and more digital, it’s necessary to keep up with the times. One of the ways to do this for your child is by introducing them to the digital world through their very own phone. And while it is a convenient distraction to help get your child off your case, too much screen time is dangerous, especially without proper supervision.

This could lead your child to things that will have a negative impact on their brain’s development, social skills, and emotional safety and security.

Here are a few things to consider about the benefits of regulating your child’s screen time and ways to fill up the time with healthier habits.

Limiting Screen Time Will Open Up More Ways For You to Teach Your Child About Empathetic Connection.

According to Charles Nelson, a Harvard neuroscientist, the give-and-take nature of a child’s relationship with their parents/guardians greatly impacts how well their minds develop. At the heart of this is being able to build an emotional and empathetic connection by having face-to-face conversations, but excessive screen time robs your child of that opportunity.

“Until babies develop language,” Nelson says, “all communication is non-verbal, so they depend heavily on looking at a face and deriving meaning from that face.”

Here are some things to try to help build your child’s empathy:

1. Carve out a special time slot that will replace screen time, a time when all electronics are not to be used. This time could be used to have heart-to-heart conversations or talks about how the day went.

2. Partake in emotion-identifying games. Ashley Cullins writing for Big Life Journal noted: “Teaching emotions through play is an important way to develop empathy in children.”

Replacing Screen Time With Healthier Habits Will Help Better Your Child’s Attention Span

Michael Manos, director of the ADHD Center for Evaluation and Treatment at the Cleveland Clinic, found a correlation between the mismanagement of screen time for kids and the worsening of focus-related conditions later on in life.

“Screen time is highly engaging, and children who have not learned to manage their own boredom and rely on screen time to assist them, are more prone to show difficulties with managing attention themselves,” Manos said.

With that said, here are several habits to help preserve or better your child’s attention span:

1. Get them to read more. Reading is perfect brain exercise that helps with sharpening focus, independent thinking, and imagination.

2. Play focus-related games more, such as chess, card games, or any other game that requires strategising.

Regulating Screen Time Will Help Shield Your Child from Cyberbullying

On top of protecting your child’s attention span and brain development, regulating screen time from a social media perspective can improve your child’s lifestyle. With the rise of cyberbullying and suicide of children affected by online bullies, being intentional about the content your child consumes on social media can be a matter of life and death.

According to kidshealth.org, “kids who are cyberbullied can struggle to concentrate in school, which can affect how well they do there.

Cyberbullying that is severe, long-lasting, or happens a lot can cause anxiety, depression, and other stress-related disorders in victims and bullies.” Not establishing healthy screen time boundaries for your child to operate within will almost always have bad consequences.

Suggested Solutions?

1. Barring your child from creating Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. Perhaps WhatsApp could be an exception for family interactions, but apart from that, no.

2. Use a parental control app to monitor your child’s online activity, such as Google Family Link.

Phones can play a huge part in our lives, helping us connect with those from a distance. But in the hands of a child without proper guidance, it can open up worlds capable of corrupting your child’s mind and disturbing their well-being. It’s important to teach your child the ability to establish a healthy digital and real-world balance.