IPADS Are NOT Babysitters- 5 Tips to Teach Digital Responsibility

 The IPAD is Not a Babysitter – 5 Tips to Teach Digital Responsibility

One of the issues confronting society is the responsibility around the use of technology and the devices it is delivered on.  The device and information is not necessarily the problem but the proper use of the device and how information is accessed.  We live in a world where if not supervised children can access inappropriate material and become overwhelmed, desensitized or anxious.  The primary responsibility in teaching proper use of technology lays with the child’s caregiver.  So ultimately we shouldn’t rely on the iPad or similar devices to babysit or bring up our children.

The need for human contact and engagement is extremely important for a child’s healthy development.  I have witnessed on numerous occasions how a device has been substituted to soothe a child or redirect them when they are upset.  The caregiver uses the device as an easy attempt to meet the child’s needs rather than the all-important human interaction the child needs in order to learn methods to self soothe.  The device cannot substitute for the caregiver’s attention or required discipline.

As teachers we have seen a decline in social skills, communication skills, problem solving and decision making skills as well as relationship and cooperative skills.  These social emotional skills are taught typically immediately in the child’s life and built upon as they learn from their caregiver how to navigate the world. Without these important social emotional skills children may have a very difficult timer reaching their academic potential as well.

Tips to Teach Digital Responsibility

1.       Be Present:  Put YOUR device down and engage with your child.  Ask them questions about their day.  TALK to them don’t just text.

2.      Be Responsible for the Relationship:  Keep building and focusing on a quality parental relationship.  You provide discipline and guidance.  Role model what you want to see in your child.  How are you showing up in the world?

3.      Supervise internet usage:  You are the child’s initial gatekeeper to the digital world.  You buy the device, provide the internet service in your home… you have the ultimate say in how it is used.  Don’t ignore or not follow through on the little things or issues will get bigger and bigger.

4.      Teach Digital Responsibility: Handing over a device and expecting the child to monitor their own time is naïve.  Set boundaries and limits.  If they exceed those limits implement consequences.  The more you let it slide the more default it will be later.  Teach children it is not ok to use this device to bully others.  As well remember when they are at school and it’s not an emergency… you probably can wait to speak to them until they get home. 

5.      Have family time with no devices.  Yours included.  Have time together without any distractions from a device.  Go outside, play games, go out for dinner and a movie.  Make TIME to be a family.