6 Tips for Managing and Reducing Children’s Mobile Phone Usage Time

If you look back, you will notice that your lifestyle and that of your children are completely different. In the past, children interacted with each other, played, and received specific permissions from parents to watch television under certain conditions. The rest of the time was spent playing and talking with peers. But these days, from the very first days when our children discover themselves and recognize their hands and feet, they become familiar with a colorful, glowing screen that offers them various forms of entertainment. Even during mealtimes and bedtime, some parents use this method to keep their child entertained. With a deeper look, you will realize the disaster lurking for the current generation. According to the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, school-aged children should not use phones and tablets for more than one or two hours per day. The effects of these electronic and technological devices on the psyche of children and adolescents are serious. Therefore, in this article, with an understanding of the importance of managing and reducing mobile phone usage time, we aim to propose effective methods for reducing children’s mobile phone usage time.

If you are also concerned about this issue and managing your children’s phone usage time is vital for you, stay with us to explore the latest methods from around the world.

Learn More: Are Mobile Games for Children a Rival to Their Natural Growth?

Why Should You Take Action to Reduce Mobile Phone Usage Time?

Extensive research considers the use of tablets and phones by children to be harmful. In 2019, after conducted studies, the World Health Organization announced that for children under 2 years old, the use of phones and tablets is prohibited! This can cause problems in the brain development of a child during the most critical years of growth and development. On the other hand, this limit is also restricted for children under 7 and under 12 years old, with a maximum daily usage time of 1 hour. Reduced physical activity due to continuous use of tablets and phones, weakened eyesight due to staring at the phone, and dry eyes from not blinking are all significant factors that highlight the necessity of managing children’s phone usage time. In many cases, obesity and weight gain resulting from lack of movement and age-appropriate play are also consequences of using these technological devices.

How to Manage Children’s Mobile Phone Usage Time?

Managing children’s mobile phone usage time can be an important and key solution to improving conditions. Reducing children’s mobile phone usage time is possible with these simple techniques, provided you act consciously and patiently and remain committed to the framework to achieve the goal.

• Set Time Regulations: To reduce your children’s phone usage time, you must establish specific regulations. For example, you determine when your child is allowed to play, learn, or watch entertaining videos through your phone. Adhering to these regulations is of greater importance.
• Prioritization: As an aware parent, to reduce your children’s mobile phone usage, you must specify which tasks are necessarily done through the phone. This action helps you gain greater control in these situations.
• Set Alarms: Setting alarms to reduce children’s mobile phone usage time is an appropriate method. However, children are intelligent and can quickly learn to turn off the alarm silently after a while. Thus, your rule is undermined. In such cases, you should use the latest parental control applications. Imino is an excellent method for limiting children’s mobile phone usage time, allowing you to easily manage your children’s phone usage time.
• Turn Off Notifications: Children are sensitive to the sound of ringtones, and hearing the sound of a text message or notifications from entertaining apps is exciting for them. This excitement leads to a pursuit of phone use. To control this situation, you can turn off notifications.
• Reduce Social Media Use: When you, as a parent, show no interest in social media and do not consider this space entertaining, funny, or curiosity-provoking, your child will take cues from you and show little interest in this space.

Ways to Reduce Children’s Mobile Phone Usage Time

Considering all the harms mentioned above, you definitely need to learn methods to reduce your children’s mobile phone and tablet usage time to provide the necessary care. These actions, while improving children’s mental state in the future, can pave the way for their intellectual growth.

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1. They Should Not Have Personal Phones or Tablets

One of the proposed techniques for reducing children’s mobile phone usage time is not providing them with personal phones or tablets. Dr. Steven Gortmaker, a professor of health social sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health, recommends: Under no circumstances should children be given personal phones or tablets. To control the situation and set rules, you need to maintain your authority. Instead of giving phones and tablets, interact with your children, talk, watch entertainment, and play.

2. Using Technological Devices in Shared Home Spaces

Children have a strong desire to personalize or use tablets and phones in private spaces. You can use specific tricks to choose shared home spaces for using phones, tablets, or personal computers. This way, you will have greater supervision over the time children spend using these devices.

3. Institutionalize Phone-Free Hours in the Family

Try to add phone-free time to your family’s schedule. It doesn’t matter what age or stage you are at; you need times to interact with family, talk, play, and eat together without a phone. Remember to limit phone use during meals, bedtime, and similar occasions from an early age.

4. Have Limited Scheduling

To reduce mobile phone usage time, you must create a general rule for audio and visual devices. This reduces children’s sensitivity to phones and tablets, and they view these rules as general guidelines. This reduces the risk of arguments and conflicts with children.

5. Create and Spread Values

Your child interacts with other children. The behavioral patterns and rules of other families regarding mobile phone use will undoubtedly differ. You must properly instill family values and rules in your child’s mind. Because to answer their questions about the reasons for the rules at home, the child needs to have some grounding. So, do not forget conversation and interaction.

6. Add New Entertainment

You are responsible for entertaining your children. All your children need to be entertained with effective, efficient, and appropriate methods. This requires engaging your creativity and rolling up your sleeves. Spending time with your children reduces their need to look at tablet and phone screens. This way, you can easily plan your life. Items that encourage children’s physical activity can serve as excellent entertainment in the home to assist you.

7. Show Educational Uses

Undoubtedly, part of today’s world revolves around the presence of smartphones. Therefore, you need to be somewhat flexible and, while using methods to reduce mobile phone and tablet usage time, highlight their positive features. You can start education through these technological devices using appropriate apps and dedicated websites, limiting phone use to these times. When you use the phone for teaching skills, increasing knowledge, and similar purposes, the child feels the educational aspect of the phone more strongly, and their mindset does not grow toward entertainment and wasting time with the phone.

8. Use Parental Control Applications

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