In the start of this pandemic the very first that were affected are our children. Classes stopped and they could not interact with other kids or even go to their favorite amusement parks. As a parent it really tore my heart apart when these activities got halted by this crisis and we need to stay at home. To address the boredom while staying at home we turn to our gadgets. Even as parents this was our means to be entertained and forget about the crisis for a while. On the other hand we are also aware of the harmful effects of gadgets so the question will be how can we regulate the harmful effects while maximizing the benefits of gadgets.

Let’s start with Negative Effects of Technology
Technology primarily changed the attention span of the people. I am suspecting the varieties of choices in a few clicks is the primary reason for this attention span difference. In just 10 years from 12 minutes attention span it changed to 5 minutes.

Cognitive Overload - This is very rampant that we just read the titles and not read the entire content. With the convenience of “swipe” action we can go from one page to another and sometimes we miss important details.

Instant Gratification - search engines helped a lot in our daily usage and check the information in a very fast paced, however it conditioned the students to find information quickly.

How Can We Help Guide Them to Proper Usage?
Now we know the harmful effects of technology, we can not just remove it immediately, we need to guide them on how to properly use it.

Educate Yourself - we need to know what they know in that way we can guide them not all content in the internet are created to harm there are really some good contents around we just need to help them find it.

Encourage Other Interests - My daughter really loves to draw and since we share the same interests I show her what other genres or drawing styles that other artists use. On the other hand I expose her to other forms of composition like reading books, now she is nuts over local Filipino books.

Limit Internet Use - We have a schedule on when they are allowed to use their tables and phones. They learn to follow the rules, they increase their chances to lessen the bad effects of gadgets.

Please share your thoughts or techniques on how we can protect our children from bad effects of gadgets