Sugary drinks, trans fats … and now Internet. We are not surprised that WHO will take action soon if the “elderly” are not able to teach children a healthy use of ICT that allows them to follow a balanced digital diet.
Our children rarely play in the street anymore: between homework, after school activities, time dedicated to screens and changes in the habits of families, there are few occasions when they perform moderate physical activity.
The benefits of physical activity for health affect the prevention of diseases and improve the quality of life, through physiological benefits (obesity prevention), psychological (increased esteem and stress reduction) and social (social integration).
But, in addition, they are of special relevance for childhood and adolescence, contributing to their integral development, to a better sociability, to the control of overweight, the increase of motor skills and in general to a better school performance.
For all this, we have to try to break with the “fashion” of some teenagers who measure their digital self-esteem according to the number of “Followers” or “I like” their profiles in Social Networks. To do this, parental controls for Android are really beneficial. These controls are rendered by specialized apps such as FamilyTime. With this app in hand, parents can monitor their kids and enable them to take toll on their device usage. Using the FamilyTime app, parents can see the web use of their kids, their app preferences, chat history and much more. Not only this, they can block apps, implement internet filters, limit screen time and Watch list contacts etc.
It is not difficult to put kids on a digital diet and for this, we present you a series of very specific habits to help you “get them fit”. Do not try to make many changes at once, but little by little, that is a real challenge for you.
- Turn off notifications on their mobile that are not important.
- If you need them to focus on a specific task , mute the phone and store it in a drawer while doing it until you have completed a significant part of it.
- If they work in front of the computer, close the profiles of your Social Networks, the direct messaging programs (chats) and the email manager so as not to receive interruptions constantly.
- When they take a break mid-morning or afternoon, take a limited time, 20 min. for example, to attend only important notifications.
- Make regular breaks between activity and activity.
- Make schedule and fix a specific moment of the day to make them practice their interests
In short, help your kids to use technology as a means and not as an end in itself, to be able to render professionally and personally.
