If you are a parent then nothing can be more worrisome than the words “screen time”
it is a double edged sword in today’s times, when a child is surrounded with screens all around him. phone, laptop, tablet, desktop, everyone possesses some or the other form of screen and your child is exposed to it in ways you cant control. the most trending and convenient devices are the iPad and the smart phone, which is making our children dumber by the day.
keeping kids away from their screens is becoming a challenging task. there are many activities that can be substituted for screen time for eg. activity boxes, free play, montessori play, flash cards .
most of these require supervision and cant keep kids busy for a long time, hence people tend to give digital devices to their kids especially busy parents like me !
what is screen time?
screen time refers to the amount of time a person spends in front of the screen of any digital device like a mobile phone, iPad, laptop, desktop,
children less than two years should not be exposed to any screen time, even educational.
recomended screen time.
the american academy of pediatrics discourages media use, for children less than 2 years of age.
children aged 2 to 5 years should not be exposed to screen time more than one hour per day.
the media should be high quality, pre-viewed by the parents or guardians and should be educational or informative
making screen time productive
controlling exposure of our kids, to the online world either through you tube, or various games, or song and dance videos is becoming a daunting task.
here i am going to show you how we can use this bad habit of screen time and transform it into something educational for our kids, giving them a fun learning experience at the same time.
MentalUP- educational games app. if your toddler is hooked to the screen, watching some useless you tube videos of slime getting crushed or cars being thrown then this app is your rescuer. it will free you of parent guilt arising from giving screen time to your kid.
What is mentalUP app?
It is an app developed keeping in mind pure brain development of a child and reducing screen addiction.
It helps in:
- Improving attention
- Strengthening focus and concentration
- Improving memory and learning ability
- Building visual and linguistic skills
Developing problem solving and logic skills.
Recommended age group?
Beneficial Technology For Kids Play Easily. Learn Fast and Improve Their Skills Effectively!
All you need to know about the best app for kids.
- Play store rating – 4.7
- Downloads till date – 2 million+
- In app purchases – Yes
- In app ads – No
- Attractive, catchy graphic.
- Dedicated analysis of games with performance report.
- Simple user interface.
- Daily 20 mins of recommended playtime.
- Funded by “EDUCATE” program which is the brain child of UCL (University Collage London) granted to pioneers in research education.
- You can try it for free and then make in app purchases to discover full potential of the app.
this a brain games app used for developing child’s cognitive and emotional abilities, and a lot more.
still can’t decide if mentalup app is right for your kid?
- it has about 100+ brain exercises to polish and sharpen your child’s 5 core cognitive learning skills as mentioned above.
- it also generates a personal report card for the child’s assessment.
- i loved the scoring system which is very motivating.
- your scores are compared to not only other kids of your age but also your own last best score, so it gives the player, a chance to compete against oneself as well, thus providing a positive feedback to the brain and increasing self esteem.
- it is available in the form of monthly subscriptions and can be renewed, still not sure whether to buy it, then try it for free here.
Final thought.
Have you hear of “computer vision syndrome”?
looking at a screen for extended periods of time can cause the following symptoms:
- strained, dry eyes
- blurry vision
- headache
- poor posture
- chronic neck, shoulder, back pain
A new study out of the university of Alberta has found out that by the age of 5 years, children who spent more than 2 hours per day, each day on their screens were 7.7 times more likely to meet the criteria for diagnosing ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), when compared to children who spent 30 mins or less on their screens.
How to limit Screen Time?
Your concerns about screen time to your kid are legit and I am a parent too and I understand this fully. Here is the answer.
Digital wellbeing. It is an initiative launched by google to control screen time. You can get info on how long you are using each app, how frequently you have unlocked your phone and parental controls that enable you to put a timer to limit usage of each app.
iOS too has the same feature by the name “Screen Time” in Settings.
It doesnt get easier than this.
