For many parents, using a smartphone or tablet to calm down a child throwing tantrums or keep a young child busy may seem like a harmless, temporary tool to ensure they catch up with office work or house chores with less stress.
Occasional use of smartphones or tablets to occupy children is expected and realistic. But parents need to be wary of this becoming a regular soothing method. Now, researchers suggest that frequently using these devices to soothe children may lead to more tantrums, defiance and other undesirable behaviours in the future.
In the long term, particularly in early childhood, these devices may displace opportunities for the development of independent and alternative methods to self-regulate. Also, children who already struggle with emotional coping skills end up more likely to react intensely to feelings like anger, frustration and sadness.
Children may exhibit more difficult behaviours like tantrums between the time from preschool to kindergarten just because they’re tired, hungry, overexcited, frustrated or bored, which can make screen devices an even more appealing solution for parents.
The researchers in a Michigan Medicine study in JAMA Pediatrics said frequent use of devices like smartphones and tablets to calm upset children ages 3 to 5 was associated with increased emotional dysregulation in kids after three and six months of follow-up, particularly in boys.
Signs of increased dysregulation could include rapid shifts between sadness and excitement, a sudden change in mood or feelings and heightened impulsivity.
Findings suggest that the association between device-calming and emotional consequences was particularly high among young boys and children who may already experience hyperactivity, impulsiveness and a strong temperament that makes them more likely to react intensely to feelings like anger, frustration and sadness.
Apart from the use of smartphones and tabs preventing mothers from doing the right thing to address what might be making the child cry or throw tantrums, Dr Haleem Abdulrahman, a consultant psychiatrist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, said that a digital device as a quick fix could make such children grow up to develop a poor problem-solving attitude.
According to him, they may grow up always looking for something to placate them when faced with a challenge or try to avoid confronting their problems.
Also, the behaviour exposes them to a pattern of behaviour that makes it very likely for them to be addicted to social media or also end up bringing up their children dependent on whatever entertainment technology exists in the future.
Dr Abdulrahman declared: “These are the kind of children that will end up, anytime they have a challenge in school or with people want to look for drugs to take away their pains, distress or challenge they are facing.
“That is why a mother should try to understand why the child is acting a particular way, throwing tantrums, crying, irritable or angry and then offer the right solution to that problem so that the child will be able to develop proper problem-solving skills as they are growing up,” he added.
He warned that frequent use of smartphones, games, videos or cartoons to placate children throwing tantrums, crying, irritability or anger will make setting proper limits and boundaries by the parent very difficult for such children as they are growing up. To make them know that there are things that they shouldn’t do or say will be difficult.
Even then, Dr FolushoBalogun, a paediatrician at the UCH Ibadan, said parents should stop giving children smartphones or tabs to children to placate them because their use can affect their social interaction with others as well as cognitive function in the long term.
“At an early age, a child loves to touch everything everywhere; they keep asking questions and exploring their environment. These things help the development of their brain. But keeping them on phones will prevent all these.”
Dr Balogun declared that the negative implications of smartphones on the health of children and adolescent is great, citing cases of many adolescents because of excessive smart phones use developing repeated medical problems like sleep problems, headache, vomiting, feeling down and disturbed brain activity.
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According to her, man is a social being and so resorting to smartphones to calm a child or keep a child busy negates this, is not a suitable parenting method and could end up limiting their ability to develop social skills and also learn from their environment.
Moreover, Mrs Florence Enwezu, a deputy director of nursing at the paediatric unit of UCH, Ibadan although it will distract the child from crying or throwing tantrums, over time, even when they are hungry they would not ask for food and become nutritionally deprived over time.
Mrs Enwezu, noting that there must be moderation in everything in life, added that suicidal tendency is increasing in adolescents because many in their childhood never mastered the skills of good communication with their parents but rely on social media and the internet for answers to many questions worrying them.
In the study, researchers assessed data from 422 parents and 422 children, who were between the ages of 3 and 5. The study was carried out between August 2018 and January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parents completed an online survey about family media use behaviours, context and content, as well as additional surveys about children’s executive function and emotional reactivity.
Researchers recommend that parents try sensory techniques such as jumping on a trampoline, listening to music or looking at a book to calm a child throwing tantrums. They can also ask their children to name their emotions and discuss what to do about them.
