Wekeend Spices: Simple Teachings for Kids about Smartphone Etiquette
Throughout infancy and childhood, children see and pick up valuable skills from their parents regarding sharing their wants and emotions with others. However, compared to their parents, youngsters are increasingly utilizing technology at a younger age.
People’s ability to stay connected has never been easier because to the development of cellphone and smartphone technologies. With the help of this technology, we can communicate with the people we care about no matter how far away they live, and we can access a multitude of knowledge online.
Kids are more at ease with internet communication than they have ever been. According to a 2017 Nielsen poll of more than 4,000 parents, 45% of them said their kids had a smartphone with a service plan between the ages of 10 and 12.
Having access to devices such as these is undoubtedly beneficial. For safety and the ability to always know where their child is, many parents choose to give their child a mobile phone or smartphone. Some educators may even use instructional applications on their smartphones to allow students to use them in class. Kids who have too much access to technology on their gadgets, however, run the risk of abusing it or encountering inappropriate content.
Youngsters who are unfamiliar with cellphones won’t quickly pick up on when to stop using them unless someone demonstrates it to them. Therefore, it is the responsibility of parents to teach their kids the fundamentals of smartphone etiquette and to promote responsible smartphone use.
1. Become more focused
Anybody may easily become engrossed in whatever they are focusing on at the time, whether they are an adult or a toddler. However, it may be troublesome when someone is overly preoccupied with what is happening on their smartphone rather than what is going on in their immediate environment. When you try to have a conversation, it can be unpleasant to be neglected by someone who is too preoccupied with messaging someone else or going through their social media feed.
As a parent, assist your child in becoming aware of their surroundings and in listening intently. This implies that if your child is using their smartphone and you or someone else needs to stop them in order to ask a question or handle another matter.
2. Need to take pauses for your smartphone
Children must learn the value of taking breaks from their cellphones in addition to paying attention to the real-world activities going on around them. It is beneficial to disconnect from virtual worlds for a reasonable period of time in order to reestablish physical and emotional connections.
When it comes to school courses where screen time is required, for example, kids might not always be able to resist it. But those minutes, along with whatever extra time they spend in front of cellphones and other displays, can have a big influence on their life. Overindulgence in screens can have detrimental impacts on sleep, weight gain, headaches, and vision issues.
3. Promote courteous texting
Over time, the craft of writing has changed, moving from lengthy, handwritten letters to brief texts replete with emoticons. It’s not always the best idea to say “thank you” with an emoji that looks like a thumbs-up instead of “please.”
Assist your youngster in learning the art of textual communication to help them become courteous texters. Although texts aren’t the same as lengthy emails, you may still send brief messages with appropriate manners. Emoji usage, for instance, might not be appropriate for every text message exchange, so it’s crucial to develop the habit of typing out words like “please,” “thank you,” and “I’m sorry.”
4. Make use of parental controls.
Smartphone parental controls provide parents the ability to keep an eye on their kids’ usage of their gadgets and prevent them from accessing inappropriate content.
Parental control options are pre-installed on both Android and iPhone smartphones to help with content and privacy limitations. There are other applications, such as Norton Family Premier and FamilyTime, that provide more parental controls. These applications will provide your child a framework for using cellphones in a safer, healthier way, even if they may not directly teach them a lesson.
It will take time and experience some failures to teach your kids the fundamentals of smartphone etiquette. Remember that youngsters pick up a lot of knowledge from seeing the people who are closest to them. Set an example of proper smartphone behavior for children to follow.
