Find ways to reduce your child's phone usage time
Long summer vacations give children more free time, while parents are still busy with work. Many families therefore have to ask grandparents to take care of their children, and the use of phones and tablets has become a familiar form of entertainment for children.
Ms. Nguyen My Duyen (Ninh Kieu ward, Can Tho city) said that during the summer vacation, her son is sent to grandparents to take care of. Because they love their grandson, grandparents often show their phones for easy care. Gradually, the use of electronic devices has become a habit that is difficult to give up.
Sometimes when she eats or goes to bed, she also asks for a phone. Preparing to enter the new school year, I am trying to control my child's phone usage time because I am worried it will affect her health and studies," Ms. Duyen shared.
Similarly, Mr. Tran Hai Duong (Ninh Kieu ward, Can Tho city) is also looking for ways to help his child reduce dependence on electronic devices before returning to school.
“Apart from participating in summer classes, when he gets home, he mostly just sticks to his phone. If he is not allowed to use it, he will cry, and when he has a phone, he rarely communicates or interacts with people. The family is finding ways to help him gradually change this habit,” Mr. Duong said.
Prohibition is not a long-term solution
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, psychologist Mai Ngoc Quyen - NHC Vietnam Center for Human Development and Psychology - said that electronic devices are not "enemies", the important thing lies in the duration and how to use them.
According to experts, when spending too much time on the screen, children may reduce their ability to concentrate, lose interest in real-life activities, easily get irritable when disconnected, have sleep disorders and limit social interaction.
What is more worrying is that children gradually form the habit of seeking emotional relief through screens. When sad, bored, lonely or under pressure, children will turn to electronic devices instead of learning how to recognize and adjust their emotions. If prolonged, children will have difficulty in training patience, self-control and adapting to real-life challenges," Ms. Quyen analyzed.
However, according to experts, a common mistake of many parents is just trying to take the phone out of their child's hand but not creating more attractive activities to replace it.
In essence, children are not addicted to electronic devices but are attracted to the joy, connection and stimulation that devices bring. Therefore, the effective solution is not to ban, but to create real-life experiences that are attractive enough for children to actively leave the screen," Ms. Quyen emphasized.
Experts recommend that parents should encourage their children to participate in sports, art or practical experiences; create conditions for children to meet friends, increase social interaction; assign children tasks suitable for their age to feel responsible, and spend quality time with their children, even if only from 20 - 30 minutes each day.
When children feel listened to, accompanied and have more joy in real life, the need to cling to the screen will decrease naturally and more effectively than rigid control measures," the expert shared.
