It seems literally impossible to get the addiction to gaming and mobile phone usage under control once it becomes a habit. In the beginning, parents are alright with the kids using the devices because this way there is peace in the house and parents do not have to entertain children with direct interaction. Later, when the kids are in love with gaming and media the parents realize that they are in a bad situation. One good usage of mobile phones is accessing online tutors through educational apps (which our kids are not much interested in).

No mobile phones

Why do we give mobile phones to our young ones? Did we have them when we were young? Is it because other kids have it too? Or because we want them to let us have peace and stay occupied in it? It is the simple matter of exposure that causes problems at a later stage. Giving mobile phones should be on a need base, not as an un-justified facility.

Limit the usage

One way of reducing addiction is to limit usage. Threats of taking away the phone are not going to work unless the threat is put into action. Instead of asking to stop using mobile and do something else, apply the limited usage policy. There are applications available that lock the phone after using it for a certain period of time, using these apps instead of yelling is a better strategy.

Keep them busy

Keeping kids busy in planned activities, one after the other with small gaps in between will be helpful in the quest of reducing screen time. Getting the kids to do their school-assigned work perfectly at home ought to do the trick. Nini’s Tutor academy is a well-known entity providing home tutor in Karachi.

Restrict the usage in bed

The last thing before the eyes close to sleep and the first thing done right after getting up is the one and only thing, checking the mobile phone. This is the new normal. Both children and parents are habitual of taking mobile phones to bed and keeping it under the pillow or on the side table, in easy reach. Do not let kids take phones in bed, under any circumstance.

Mandatory physical activity

Fix evening time for physical activity (just like it was in old times). No sports activity should be equivalent to no mobile phone. Even if the kid is the only child in family, parents have to indulge with the kid to avoid getting the child used to gadgets.

Be the role model

Kids learn what they see (mostly the wrong stuff) and parents are the first role model they come across. For the sake of your child, you have to take the initiative of showing them that mobile phones are not something to be used all the time.

Unless we take a stance against the kids using mobile phones, people will get complacent and accept it as a normal thing, which unfortunately has already happened. Just like obesity in kids have links to watching television extensively, bad grades, rude attitude, and low tolerance has their roots in the usage of mobile phones.

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