How to Prevent Computer Addiction in a Child?

How to prevent computer addiction in a child?

Nowadays, when computers and smartphones are an integral part of life, it is important to pay attention to the impact of technology on the health and development of children. The ability to use computers and the Internet is literally in every home, and this can lead to severe addiction, especially in children.

Below are recommendations that will help prevent computer addiction in your child.

1. Limit your time on computer games. Research shows that time spent at the computer should be limited. Up to 7 years old, a child can work with a computer no more than 20 minutes a day, and from 7 to 12 years old - no more than 2-3 hours a day. After 12 years, this limitation is less alarming, but the individual characteristics of the child still need to be taken into account.

2. Protect your child from computer games between the ages of 3 and 5 years. During this period of time, the child is in the most critical period of mental development, and he needs to engage in more physical and creative activities.

3. Avoid playing on the computer before bed. Strong stimulation before bedtime can interfere with normal sleep, which negatively affects the health and development of the child.

4. Develop spiritual purity, moral improvement and life-affirming creativity in your child. It is important to help the child form a will and a stable, harmonious emotional sphere.

5. Give your child physical activity, make him move and experience joy from it. The child should engage in gymnastics and sports.

6. Return physical education to its rightful place in the school curriculum. Computer literacy lessons should not take more time than physical education lessons.

7. Do not demonize the computer, but use it for the benefit of the child. Choose good games based on emotionally positive images that promote creative development and the discovery of mental capabilities.

8. Develop and implement special computer programs for the prevention of psychosomatic health.

9. Don't let your child have fun in the computer club at night. Introducing age restrictions on visiting computer clubs at night would be preferable.

10. Make sure that your passion for computers does not replace your child’s live communication with peers. Help your child find a compromise between communication in real life and the virtual world. It is important to explain to your child that communication on the Internet cannot completely replace real-life relationships and friendships.

Overall, it is important to remember that computer technology can have both positive and negative effects on a child's development. Therefore, you need to find a balance between using a computer and other activities, not forgetting about the health and development of the child.