Kids given ‘digital dummies’ to calm their tantrums ‘fail to learn key mental skill’, scientists warn
GIVING children “digital dummy” phones and iPads to stop tantrums just makes their behaviour worse, a study found.
Experts said the parenting hack is common but short-sighted.
Questionnaires found that, out of 265 under-fives, those who were calmed with digital devices had worse emotional control a year later.
They were more prone to anger outbursts and struggled to regulate their feelings.
Ofcom figures show nearly 90 per cent of three to four-year-olds in the UK use the internet regularly, mostly to watch videos.
A quarter of toddlers even have their own smartphone.
Children need the help of their parents, not a digital device
Dr Veronika Konok
Study author Dr Veronika Konok, from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, said: “Tantrums cannot be cured by digital devices.
“Children have to learn how to manage their negative emotions for themselves.
“We show that if parents regularly offer a digital device to their child to calm them or to stop a tantrum, the child won’t learn.
“This leads to more severe emotion regulation problems, specifically anger management problems, later in life.
“They need the help of their parents during this learning process, not the help of a digital device.”
Behaviour getting worse in UK schools
British teachers say behaviour in schools is getting worse, particularly since the Covid lockdowns.
Teaching union NASUWT said last year: “Concerns over the impact of violent and abusive pupil behaviour have been raised by a significant and increasing proportion of members.”
The new study, in the journal Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, quizzed 265 parents of children with an average age of three in 2020 and four in 2021.
They answered questions about how much they used “parental digital emotion regulation” and about their child’s behaviour.
It said the results were “consistent and strong in one direction” with more frequent device use linked to higher anger and frustration and lower self-control.
The researchers said children do not learn how to process emotions if they are not forced to do it regularly.
Handing kids a device any time they are upset causes them to avoid dealing with stressful situations.
Dr Konok said parents should coach their children through difficulties and teach them to handle their feelings.
HEALTH RISKS OF SCREEN TIME
THE screens of our phones, TVs and computers improve our lives in many ways, but there can be too much of a good thing. Science now shows Britain's technology obsession is damaging our health.
Most of the harm is because screen time is sedentary, meaning we barely move our bodies when we are watching or scrolling.
Spending too long sat still eventually leads to weight gain and obesity, which are the driving millions of Brits into health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, cancer and dementia.
Here are half a dozen studies that show screen time can damage our health at any age:
- Children who spend too much time watching iPads and TVs at higher risk of mental health problems
- Tots learn fewer words if they are glued to a screen
- Kids at risk of type 2 diabetes if they watch too much TV
- Couch potatoes double their risk of dying young
- Five hours per day on social media trebles adults’ depression risk
- Smartphone addiction keeps a third of us awake at night