The proliferation of smartphone in recent times has allowed people to get entertained, do their work on the go and catch up on the latest tidbits from around the world. But on the other side, too much use of smartphones has given rise to a phenomenon known as smartphone addiction and out of all who are inflicted by it;children are the ones who are at the highest risk of harm.

Humans are perhaps one of the only creatures to have such a long childhood, but as Carl Sagan put it in his book “Dragons of Eden”, this long childhood is kind of a trade-off we had with Mother Nature to make ourselves much more capable to learn and become intelligent. This underlines the importance of how important this period is in a person’s life, so if your child is wasting it around while using a smartphone, as a parent, you need to do an intervention and stop this all.

Dr Yusuf Mutahar, who has a vast experience as a medical practitioner in things like cosmetic medicine and sports medicine, understands this issue better than most because he is an accomplished influencer himself with a large following on his Instagram handle. He is of the opinion that overuse of smartphones takes time away from other important activities a child should be indulging in. When the child should be out playing in the greens while picking up important life lessons on things like team building and coordination, it’s a waste that it prefers to stay inside with the smartphone.

And that’s not it, the harmful effects of smartphone overuse are just too problematic to ignore. Here are a few of the most important ones among them.

1) Difficulty concentrating in school - The long hours that your child spends on his/her smartphone can leave them exhausted which can impacts their performance in school. Even if they aren’t exhausted, the video games begin dominating their lives to the extent where they are unable to concentrate on other things.

A study consisting of high school students found that a teenager’s vulnerability towards developing ADHD increases significantly as it indulges in different online activities.

2) Lack of socialization - With smartphones being such a controlling force in their lives, children often slowly withdraw from social activities like spending time with family and end up secluding themselves.

A major chunk of their waking lives is taken up by smartphone use leaving very little for proper socialization or any physical activities.

4) Causes kids to be more violent –Not directly related but definitely one that can have a prominent effect on children, different online content available on smartphones can increase a child’s proximity to violence.

If you take some time off to notice the graphic content of some of the video games your child plays on his/her smartphone, you’ll quickly learn how desensitized they have become to gruesome imagery.

This indifference to violence can cause them to become more prone to violence in real life too which is disturbing.

How to Get Them to Stop:

Smartphone addiction in children can be difficult to overcome but instead of forcing the child to immediately stop, you need to follow these steps to prevent your children from becoming too agitated from smartphone withdrawal:

1) Take it Slow:

To start off, put a time limit on the number of hours they can spend on their smartphone but before announcing it, try and get them to see why you’re doing it.

Keep them posted on how it’s negatively impacting their schoolwork and how they aren’t getting enough time for other activities.

Go easy initially but be stubborn if they are resistant.Ensure that they know that you will confiscate the console after their time limit is over.

2) Find Other Activities That They Would Love To Engage In:

The moment you bar your children from playing video games, they are going to complain about not having anything to do and this is where you come in.

Suggest activities that will diminish their ‘need’ for using smartphones to alleviate boredom.

Look for some sort of physical activity for them to take up but don’t treat each child with the same yardstick. Children have different preferences so take them into account before setting up an activity to do with them. Remember, you need to get them off smartphone use and that can only happen if you replace it something even better.

3) Put Parental Restrictions on the Smartphone & Related Devices:

You’ll be surprised to learn that smartphones and internet connectivity devices come with a ton of parental controls that include restrictions on certain apps, sites and usage times. Search online for instructions on how to activate parental control on these devices and use them to restrict and monitor your child’s smartphone usage.

Wrapping Things Up:

Smartphones have their positives but excessive use will definitely have a negative impact on your child’s physical and mental health. But don’t just snatch the smartphone from the child, because it needs to learn how to work it due to modern day needs.

Do restrict overuse but promote good, beneficial use on the other hand always so the child develops a habit of understanding that things can benefit them and harm them simultaneously and its their job to differentiate between the actions that will lead them to each endpoint.