45 percent of teenagers in U.S.A. admit to using internet almost constantly ! Pew Research Survey noted these numbers have doubled in last 4 years.
What are the effects of technology addiction on children?
Irritability, anxiety, insomnia and depression are on rise in young kids. This is caused due to imbalance in brain chemistry caused by smartphone addiction.
If your child is showing some of these same behavior, then she has technology addiction problem and needs your help.
First start by treating the negative impact of technology addiction. Then on an ongoing bases help your child develop healthy digital habits.
At the bottom of this post, you will find Free Download for 7 Day Digital Detox Plan along with 4 week tracking worksheet.
Digital detox will help you reverse the negative impact of digital addiction. Digital Detox means refraining from electronics for a period of time.
Here are 3 key elements of a successful Digital Detox:
Baby Steps:
Start scheduling small digital detox sessions. Depending on how much your child is addicted to the electronics, you may start with an evening without gadgets to a weekend spent without electronics at a remote cabin and then extend it to a week camping in wilderness without digital gadgets.
We started our first digital detox with a weekend in a remote cabin where we could not even get wireless connection.
Walk the Talk:
Author Robert Falghum once said – “Dont’ worry that your children never listen to you, worry that they are always watching you”.
Before you take gadgets away from kids, put your gadgets away.
Before starting our detox weekend, we explained kids about our goal for the weekend , explained our reasoning for such an experiment, and made them a promise that unless it is a real need, we will also not use our gadgets. We stayed true to our promise!
Stay Close to Nature:
Staying close to nature while staying away from electronics help support the detoxification process.
Extensive research regarding access to green space for children have concluded that it promotes attention restoration, improves behavior, reduces stress, along with providing many other mental and physical benefits.
Our 1st diy digital detox destination was a remote cabin without TV and wireless. There were many hiking and biking trails, water activities and tons of other activities for kids. This made it very easy for kids to keep busy without electronics and made our detox experiment success.
With these 3 tips you are also well set to plan your very first digital detox for your children.
It would be wonderful if you would share your own experience by leaving me a comment below.
