Dr Kamni Pathania
A sense of bewilderment always overtake me when I see children below five years of age growing up digitally without knowing the ill-effects of such indulgence or exposure. Children playing with handsets, play stations or iPods is a common sight now a days. Technology has drastically changed the way people live and do things.
Electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, and laptops are regularly and frequently used by most people – even by very young kids, especially since touch screens make these gadgets very easy to use. Although the verdict on the use of these devices among children is not final, studies suggest that heavy use can do more harm than good.
Digital life for children is now getting started at a young age which is not only alarming but require concern and parental guidance to evaluate the effects of digital devices on a child’s cognitive, socio-emotional and developmental growth.
This addiction of gadgets is deeply affecting the social and personal skills of our kids. It is noticed that a youngster may be expert at texting but poor at real communication with someone face-to-face. You may find a kid holding full grip on a computer game but not at any other outdoor game. This is really a considerable issue attached with the future security of our young kids that are addicts to gadgets.
Children who spend long hours staring on screens usually complain less concentration on studies and miss out their essential sleep. If excessive use of gadgets is made for a very long period of time it makes them peevish, grumpy, aggressive and they don’t take notice of anything going on around them until they finish. Gadgets are not only killing their social, personal and creative skills but are also leaving negative impacts on their health and emotions. Following are the ill-effects of excessive use of gadgets on children:
* Children become addicted to gadgets and develop an obsession with the device. They would ask for it constantly if parents refuse to give them the gadgets. Some kids may show tantrum and increased agitation if it is taken away from them.
* Children become anti-social and become attached to the gadgets most of the time. This condition will prevent them from forming normal social relationships and having activities with their friends.
* A child is exposed to health risks such as poor sitting postures and excessive strain to their eyes by sitting in front of and staring at electronic screens for too long
* A child is exposed to emotional risks like cyber-bullying, which could lead to serious consequences. Children could pick up negative habits like being violent, or face problems in socializing with peers. In the long run, this could impact them mentally when they realize they actually have no friends outside their electronic world.
The excess use of electronics and gadgets should be and can be controlled by parents. They should fix their hour for playing with gadgets. Research suggest that children of nine to twelve years of age require around ten hours of sleep that are favorable to their health. If they don’t get it, it is harmful to their physical and mental health. For this purpose, parents should adopt good strategies. Having said that, we as parents should become aware that usage of gadgets should be done with moderation. Children should be supervised and there should be rules on ‘how much’ time can be spent on gadgets per day. There are always risks involved if the children misuse or use it without supervision and limitation.
There are so many reasons why children need to have time away from screens. But today, more than ever, the primary reason may be movement’s contribution to their physical fitness. There’s now enough evidence to show physical activity causes health benefits for children and adolescents as well. Enhanced aerobic endurance, muscle growth, muscular strength, motor coordination, growth stimulation of the heart, lungs, and other vital organs are among these benefits. Children’s freedom to play and explore on their own, independent of direct adult guidance and direction, has declined greatly in recent decades. Free play and exploration are the means by which children learn to solve their own problems, control their own lives, develop their own interests, and become competent in pursuit of their own interests. By depriving children of opportunities to play on their own, away from direct adult supervision and control, we are depriving them of opportunities to learn how to take control of their own lives. We may think we are protecting them, but in fact we are diminishing their joy, diminishing their sense of self-control, preventing them from discovering and exploring the endeavors they would most love, and increasing the odds that they will suffer from anxiety, depression, and other disorders. During the same half-century or more that free play has declined, school and school-like activities (such as lessons out of school and adult-directed sports) have risen continuously in prominence. Children today spend more hours per day, days per year, and years of their life in school than ever before. More weight is given to tests and grades than ever. Outside of school, children spend more time than ever in settings in which they are directed, protected, catered to, ranked, judged, and rewarded by adults. In all of these settings adults are in control, not children.
To help children along the path to fitness, it’s useful to have some understanding of the components involved. It’s also important to realize that the emphasis should be placed on the health-related, as opposed to the skill-related, components of fitness.
Five health-related components of physical fitness are:
* Cardiovascular Endurance Walking, marching, playing tag, dancing to music, and jumping rope all fall under the heading of moderate to vigorous exercise for children. In other words, it’s anything that keeps the child moving continuously, sometimes strenuously and sometimes less so.
* Muscular Strength the best “strength training” for children involves the use of their own weight in physical activities they’d be performing anyway, like jumping, playing tug-of-war, and pumping higher and higher on a swing.
* Muscular Endurance Children, by virtue of having fewer years of practice in most skills, will use the maximum force and contract more muscles than actually needed for the movement.
* Flexibility. If children are physically active, they’ll be flexible. But they should also be encouraged to work on their flexibility through gentle, static stretches that take a muscle just beyond its usual length (without pain!) and are held for at least 10 seconds.
* Body Composition The final component of health-related fitness is body composition: the body’s makeup in terms of fat, muscle, tissue, and bone or the percentage of lean body tissue to fat. By ensuring our children stay active, we can combat obesity before it starts.
* Activity is one of the key components which contributes to a high-quality, healthy lifestyle. Some of the other components are muscle strength and endurance, flexibility, cardiovascular, and nutrition to mention a few. By incorporating daily movement activities into the early childhood curriculum we lay the foundation for children to experience an active childhood which will help them create an active adulthood. In fact, research has shown just how important the early years are to promoting physical fitness and wellness. Given these rewards, it’s important that teachers and families work together to help children establish healthy eating patterns and healthy physical activity habits during the stage when important habits are formed i.e., early childhood. Also, the goal should not only be to ward off ill health but to promote good health and physical fitness in all children. Children who are physically active and experience success in movement activities show higher levels of self-esteem and a greater sense of accomplishment. Physical activity helps children get through the day without fatigue and makes them more alert.
Fit children are more likely to participate in sports, dance, games, and other physical activities that improve muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, cardio-respiratory endurance, and body composition.
Be aware, think likely what could happen and play it safe.
(The author is Faculty of Sciences Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University)
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