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Modern gadgets hinder a child's emotional development
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Experts say that children who are hysterical need to be given some time to calm down on their own, in other words, you need to leave the screaming baby alone for a while, and not give in to emotions and not give him a tablet or phone to calm him down faster.
According to child psychologists, children's fascination with modern gadgets leads to the child being unable to control their own emotions, which in turn slows down emotional development.
A group of researchers from Boston University concluded that children must find their own way to keep their feelings under control, but not hide them, which is what happens when they are distracted by games on their phone or tablet.
Gadgets are now so common that parents give them to their children almost from the first months of life. According to Dr. Jenny Rodeski (a specialist in the pediatrics department at Boston University), there is currently no reliable data on how modern electronic devices affect a child.
Dr. Rodeski works on developmental and behavioral issues in children, and her research has been done exclusively in the area of TV, which has shown that the more time a child spends watching TV, the more difficult it is for him to develop communication and speech skills.
Children spend their free time with mobile devices instead of communicating with their peers in person. According to a pediatrician, if parents see the only way to calm a child down by giving them a phone or tablet, then the child’s internal mechanism for self-control remains undeveloped.
Earlier studies found that e-books and other interactive devices are important for a child who has reached the age when he or she is able to comprehend and assimilate what he or she has read, or is at a stage of development when it is necessary to actively increase vocabulary. At the same time, experts noted that for such devices, a child should be at least of primary school age, and it is better if he or she has already started going to school.
A study conducted by pediatricians at Boston University found that children who became interested in such “toys” at an early age were less socially and emotionally developed than their peers who first encountered a tablet at a later age or did not use it at all.
As studies have shown, if a child spends all their time with a mobile phone or tablet during the early development of their psyche, this can lead to the fact that their problem-solving skills, social interaction mechanisms, empathy (feeling of compassion) will remain undeveloped - i.e. all those abilities that usually develop during play, communication with peers, and studying the world around them. Modern gadgets also disrupt the development of fine motor skills, learning about the world through touch, which is of great importance for learning natural and exact sciences in the future. In addition, it was found that the muscles that a child needs in the future for writing remain undeveloped as a result of frequent use of the sensor.
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