In this blog, Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready guides parents how present-day technology is detrimental to their children’s emotional literacy.
Looking back at our childhood, we spent hours upon hours playing outside, making up games, doing everything we could to possibly exhaust ourselves. In today’s world, the situation is a bit different, if not all. The onset of technology has changed everything in our lives; whether it is for the good or bad; that is for you to decide.
Today’s children are growing up surrounded by technology and screens; namely mobile phones, tablets, gaming consoles. If used under a controlled and monitored environment, these assets are of great benefits. One of the most disturbing results of uncontrolled and unmonitored access to screens and technology is the depletion of a child’s emotional literacy, caused by overstimulation.
What is the Importance of Emotional Literacy?
To begin with, emotional literacy is the art of expressing and managing emotions effectively. An important life skill, it helps a child negotiate the ups and downs of life and articulate emotions in a meaningful way. Face-to-face interactions, outdoor playtime, connection with nature; all these things help your child develop emotional literacy, as per Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready.
However, technology, mainly smartphones, pose a significant hurdle in this regard. Today’s generation of children, who were undoubtedly surrounded by screens and smartphones, are having great difficulty in expressing their feelings and managing relationships.
How Does Technology Overstimulate A Child?
Even by the age of five, a child’s brain is 90% the size of an adult. Recent trends depict that parents start using screens to calm down their child as early as 6 months. This seriously harms the development of a child’s cognitive system. The bright screen, rapidly changing colours create an overload of sensory input. As a result, the brain is flooded with dopamine – a hormone associated with pleasure.
Within a few years, the child is so “addicted” to a screen, that their patience for any real-life activities takes a hit. Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready has put together a list of some of the ways technology is eliminating a child’s emotional literacy:
1. Shortened Attention Span
Children are becoming so used to constantly changing content that their attention span is becoming alarmingly short. They are unable to concentrate on one thing for a long period of time. For example, if a child is engulfed in fast-paced video games, he will not have enough patience to deal with a sibling’s problem or a friend’s issue.
2. Instant Gratification
The instant burst of dopamine a child gets when the phone buzzes with notifications, or when his or her peers shower “likes” upon the recent post, goes as quickly as it comes. When a real-world situation arises, where a child needs to absorb or process his emotions, he will for sure struggle and become frustrated when he is unable to do so. This often leads to tantrums, outbursts or social isolation.
3. Limited Face-to-Face Interactions
Man is a social animal. He needs physical connections and relationships to feel alive, happy and to develop their emotional intelligence. With the increased use of smartphones, tablets, etc, the activities that actually nurture growth and emotional skills are replaced. This makes it difficult for a child to access and respond to emotions in an effective way.
What Can You Do As Parents?
The role of parents in regulating the use of screens or technology is crucial, according to Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready. Complete cut-off from technology is not possible in this day and age. However, what you as parents can do, is to find the right balance between technology and other social skills and activities.
- Screen Time Limits – A limited screen will prevent your child from being addicted to screens.
- Teaching Emotional Awareness – This can be done through role-playing, storytelling.
- Encourage Playing Outside – Connecting with nature is one of the best non-detrimental ways your child can get relaxed and happy.
- Be a Role Model – Remember, your child will copy everything you do. Set a good example for your child to take after you.
Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready is of the option that with little effort from parents, children can learn to articulate emotions in a better and effective way.
For details on Kinder Ready’s programs, visit their website: https://www.kinderready.com/.
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ElizabethFraleyKinderReady
