City
Epaper

Why giving smartphones to calm down kids' tantrums may not be healthy

By IANS | Updated: June 28, 2024 13:35 IST

New Delhi, June 28 Are you one of those parents who calm down their tantrum-throwing children with a ...

Open in App

New Delhi, June 28 Are you one of those parents who calm down their tantrum-throwing children with a digital device? Beware, it may hamper their ability to self-regulate their emotions later in adulthood, finds a study on Friday.

In recent years, parents often use tablets or smartphones to divert their child's attention when the child is upset.

A team of researchers in Hungary and Canada found that the approach known as parental digital emotion regulation leads to the inability of children to effectively regulate their emotions later in life.

"Here we show that if parents regularly offer a digital device to their child to calm them or to stop a tantrum, the child won't learn to regulate their emotions," said Veronika Konok, a researcher at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary.

"This leads to more severe emotion-regulation problems, specifically, anger management problems, later in life," she added.

For the study, published in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the team included more than 300 parents of children aged between two- and five years old who were followed up for a year.

The findings showed that when parents used digital emotion regulation more often, children showed poorer anger and frustration management skills a year later.

"Tantrums cannot be cured by digital devices," Konok pointed out. “Children have to learn how to manage their negative emotions for themselves. They need the help of their parents during this learning process, not the help of a digital device."

At the same time, the researchers said parents should “not avoid situations that could be frustrating to the child”, but coach the children to "recognise their emotions, and teach them to handle them".

The researchers also suggested "training and counselling methods for parents".

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Open in App

Related Stories

NationalAfter back-to-back incidents, Kerala govt’s healthcare narrative under fire

EntertainmentDeepika Padukone To Janhvi Kapoor: Bollywood Actresses Who Mastered Classical Dance

HealthAfter back-to-back incidents, Kerala govt’s healthcare narrative under fire

EntertainmentShilpa Shetty shares a glimpse of her Sunday binge date with son Viaan in London

TechnologyIndia’s engineering excellence powering world’s most advanced sectors: Piyush Goyal

Technology Realted Stories

TechnologyMarket Outlook: India-US trade deal, Q1 FY26 earnings key drivers this week

TechnologyS. Korea to deepen manufacturing cooperation in trade talks with US

TechnologyFM Sitharaman discusses strategic partnerships with BRICS Finance Ministers

TechnologyHD Hyundai joins hands with India's biggest shipbuilder Cochin Shipyard

TechnologyWon’t tolerate market manipulation: SEBI Chairperson