Parenting in the Digital Age

Parenting, in general, means to guide, nurture and raise a child from his infancy to adulthood. However, the word “digital parenting” has been recently introduced due to the growing use of technology in our lives. Nowadays, children have access to all the tools and gadgets of this growing connected world including screens, digital devices and social media platforms. Though, on one hand, these tools are great to learn, create and connect, they are the reason of concern for modern parents.

Parents can’t ignore the technology benefits but at the same time, they have to navigate through the potential drawbacks of this digital communication. From controlling screen time to ensuring safety from cybercrimes, they need to strike the right balance.

In this article, let’s explore all about digital parenting, the growing role of parents in the digital world, and some digital parenting tips.

What is Digital Parenting?

Digital parenting involves all the practices and guidance taken up by parents to train and supervise their children amidst the use of digital devices, technology and the internet. In this, parents help their kids to safely navigate through the online world utilising its benefits while addressing potential dangers associated with it.

As it is said that “it’s easier said than done”; with the explosion of advanced tools and technologies, parenting in the digital world has become difficult for today’s parents. Further, there is very little knowledge, guidance and support to these parents on navigating through this constantly changing digital world.

Online learning programs, platforms to express creativity and some educational apps are undoubtedly bringing immense benefits for the children, but at the same time, children and teenagers are exposed to more and serious risks including screen addiction, bullying, inappropriate content and online predators. Some children have also faced issues such as poor sleep, social isolation and less physical activities.

Thus, this world of “digital parenting" needs an informed and considerate approach that focuses on education and open communication. However, before that let’s throw some light on the challenges that parents face in this digital world.

Challenges Of Digital Parenting

Along with several benefits, digital parenting also brings its own challenges such as:

Online Safety and Cyberbullying  

As the internet opens up a lot of information and accessibility, children often become victims of cyberbullying, online predators or get exposed to some inappropriate content. Children’s increasing attention towards social media platforms develops a kind of peer pressure in them, leading to issues like anxiety, loneliness or lack of self-esteem.

Too Much Screen Time

One of the major challenges for today’s parents is managing screen time for children. With the variety of digital devices available, children have started spending excessive time on the screens for education, socialization and entertainment. This has led to several negative effects like sleep disruptions, lack of concentration, being less active socially, reduced physical activity, eye problems and impaired social skills. Further, as children spend more time on screen, they fail to interact with their family and friends, leading to feelings of loneliness.

Social Media Influence

Nowadays, every child has his own social media accounts on multiple platforms irrespective of his age. While social media is a great platform to express your creativity and connect with people, it often brings mental health issues for children. Children develop anxiety, body shaming, depression and a sense of inferiority complex due to unrealistic content posted by others. Recently, cases were reported where many people, including children indulged in suicidal activities due to social media influence.

Digital Addiction

Streaming services like Netflix, Hotstar or Prime Video, social media platforms and online games are so alluring that they have become the only source for children to entertain and interact socially. They don’t spend time with their families, don’t play with friends and even escape from their studies. Balancing this screen time with other important activities has become a critical challenge for today’s parents.

Digital Parenting Tips

Amidst these challenges, it is very important that parents take proactive steps to help navigate their children in a balanced manner through this digital world. here are some useful and essential tips for parents to ensure online safety:

• Define clear rules for screen time for children. It would be good if you fix total screen hours in a day. Follow that every strictly.
• Encourage your child to spend more time in offline activities. Try to indulge them in their hobbies. If possible, try to play with them.
• Children imbibe digital habits from their parents only. So, before you reduce screen time for your children, you will have to set an example by reducing your own screen time. Use digital devices only when you really need them to use.
• Use built-in parental filters available in apps and streaming services. With these filters you can filter the content according to age. This will ensure that your child has restricted access to the inappropriate content.
• Use monitoring apps to keep a check on what websites, apps and platforms your child is using. Monitoring in this way will help you manage your child’s device usage in a responsible manner.
• Educate your child about digital safety. Tell them why it is not safe to enter your personal information on every platform, indulge in dangerous acts or chat with strangers.
• Create an environment of open communication in your home so that your kids can come and freely talk to you regarding anything good or bad on the internet.
• Introduce your children to newer educational apps, learning games or informational websites so that they remain distracted from the harmful sources. However, for this, first you yourself need to be updated with the modern digital trends.

For more tips on parenting in the digital era, you can connect with professional family and parenting speakers. They can advise you in a better way and help you build a strategy to create a perfect balance of the use of digital devices.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, parenting in the digital age is a complex task with a lot of challenges. However, you must understand that one approach won’t help in it. As technology advances, you will need to keep changing it. Also, you must understand that it is an ongoing learning process; so, feel free to get advice and suggestions from people around you.

Don’t think much about it. Just follow these tips and you will be able to develop a nurturing digital environment for your kids.