With increasing fondness for IT gadgets among children casting unhealthy effects on the body and soul, psychiatrists are advising parents to sign up their kids for gymnastics classes or recreational football.
Talking to The Peninsula, Dr Moza Al Malki, a prominent Qatari psychologist, said that everything had its positive and negative impacts. "The same is the case with technology’s impacts on children. For the proper growth of your children, it is highly necessary for you to have knowledge of positive and negative impacts of technology on them.”
“Many parents find that signing up their child for a gymnastics class or recreational football team helps the kid in taking a break from the media devices available at his fingertips and also develop friendships with other kids. We should tell our children it’s OK to disengage from technology,” she further added.
Dr Moza said: "With increasing use of gadgets, children are suffering from health problems like back pain, weak eyesight and many psychological issues as well. Due to less physical activities, obesity is common in today’s children.”
Moza further noted that many parents had visited her complaining about their children who were adopting bad habits of abusing and wasting all their time on internet. "This attitude further causes isolation, lack of social skills, obesity, depression, poor sleep habits, bullying, stress, neck and head pain, weak eyesight, loss of hearing ability and most importantly, developmental issues in children."
Explaining the solutions, Dr Moza advises parents to be a role model for children in the first place. “The best role model you can provide to your child is ‘what you do in front of them’. Make a habit of turning the TV off when eating dinner, eliminating computer use after a certain time each day, limiting the daily time spent video gaming and engage in some form of physical exercise together.”
Umm Al Haya, a mother said:“My three sons have been watching You-tube channel. According to their age, it consists of adult content which is bringing changes in their habits. I have eventually taken their smart phones, laptops and iPads away. Due to the growth of technology, it has become a very hard duty to keep them in control because of their environment of schools and friends.”
