The usages of smartphones have grown across the globe in the last couple of decades, and it’s true that if used in a proper way, they provide amazing help to people. However, there is always a limit of using something and the same applies to smartphones as well. If you are using your smartphone beyond a limit, it proves to be a bane rather than a boon.
Excessive of everything is bad, so whether you talk about beverages like tea, coffee, and alcohol or gadgets like smartphones and laptops, you must know how to use these properly. Their excessive use eventually makes you their addict, and once that happens, it becomes truly difficult for you to overcome your addiction.
Gone are the days, when you just used to have one landline phone in your house, which used to be attended by the person at home. Now everyone in the family has a smartphone of their own which is without doubt very helpful for keeping track of each other. However, it’s very important for parents to guide their children about internet, gaming & social networking addiction and the right use of these cutting-edge devices.
Today, teens love to flaunt their smartphones among their friends like anything and that’s the reason whenever a new model or a new phone is launched, they ask their parents to get it for them.
Though this kind of behaviour is quite common among teens, as parents you shouldn’t always try to fulfil their desires, because that encourages their behaviour of asking for new phones and other types of high tech gadgets.
If your son or daughter is only using their phone to attend important calls and to surf the internet for a limited time, then it’s quite fine, however, if they are using it even before bed time and right after they wake up in the morning, then it’s really a matter of concern.
Their excessive use can turn your teens into smartphone addicts, and once that happens, it becomes extremely difficult for you to deal with their problem. In the beginning, they won’t even realise that they have any sort of problem, however, even after they get to know about it, they can’t easily deal with their addiction.
So, if your son and daughter are using their phones excessively, you need to figure out how to deal with them effectively. And if you believe that dealing with their problem is beyond your capacity, then it’s better to find addiction treatment centre like Charter Harley Street, which offers perfect treatment for smartphone addiction.
Here are some of the interesting tips for parents to deal with their teen’s smartphone addiction.
Observe Their Behaviour
Before you take any concrete step in this direction, make sure that you are fully aware of your child’s phone usages. One of the best ways to figure out how often they are using their phones is to observe them silently for a week. Once you start observing them, you will get to know whether they have a problem or not.
Remember the best way to work towards the recovery of your child is to make them believe that they have a problem.
So, after observing your child for a week, if you get to know that they are addicted to their phones, you can take other crucial steps.
Talk To Your Kid About Their Addiction
The next important step that you need to take is to talk to your child about this problem and how it is impacting their lives. If your child remains busy talking to their friends on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, you need to ask them to limit these activities.
If you do not warn them, they will use social media sites most of their evenings which affects their studies and health very badly. So, rather than coming on too strong, you can talk to them politely and discuss the consequences of their behaviour on their studies. You can tell your son clearly that he has a smartphone addiction so that he can start working towards the recovery.
You can also make them realise about their problems by asking them a variety of open-ended questions. For example, if your son’s grades have diminished compared to an earlier year when he did not have a phone, you can ask questions like, “Don’t you think that your grades have diminished after we provided a phone to you?
This will allow your child to think about the impact of the over-use of the phone in his life.
Motivate Your Child To Play Outdoor Games
Over the years, the outdoor activities have diminished among teens, either because they get busy in carrying out online activities or because they find video games more interesting than physical games.
Therefore, it becomes important for parents to motivate their child to play outdoor games so that they can stay away from their phones for at least some time. In addition to that, outdoor games like tennis and badminton are also very important for improving the physical fitness of your child.
If you struggle to motivate your teen and find that this extends across school work and house chores too, it may be worth getting some extra help. There’s an abundance of articles online, as well as free e-books to download such as a “A Practical Guide To Motivating Your Teenager” by Daniel Wong, which may significantly help you to figure out how to handle your teen.
Ask Them To Set Limits For Their Screen Time
One of the best ways to deal with your child’s addiction is to ask them to reduce their screen time by setting limits to it. Once they come back from school, you can ask them kindly to keep their phone aside for some time. Similarly, during the night when you spend some quality time while enjoying your dinner together, make it compulsory for everyone in the family to keep their phones away. In this way, all the family members can easily enjoy each other’s company and you can also reduce the screen time of your child as well.
Don’t Use Your Phone Frequently
Apart from asking your child to minimise their screen time, it is also important that you do the same thing in front of them so that they can learn it from you. Parents are the best teachers, and hence whatever you do your child will tend to do the same. If you won’t use your phone, frequently they will also try to adopt the same habit from you.
Apart from that, you can also motivate your child to carry out creative activities such as learning music and painting, because they will keep them occupied.
