Internet and Kids

Internet, a double-edged sword, a great tool for communication, information, that opens business doors, relationships, knowledge, but also a possible danger to the mental health of children who take refuge in video games, chats, role-playing games, manga and spend hours connected to the internet, altering their circadian rhythms, sleep, feeding, neglecting their social relationships, showing irritability and diminishing their school performance, without forgetting the danger of child pornography that is so easy to access in the virtual world .

Pay special attention and alert if your child:

 Feels much euphoria when is on the computer.

 Think about internet when is doing other things.

 Lies about the real time that passes connected to the network.

 He neglects his social, family relations, studies.

 Feels anxious or restless when not connected to the internet.

 Try to stop using the computer and do not succeed.

The psychologist Isabel Menéndez warns that if three or more of these behaviours occur in the child can be considered that they have an addiction.

Also have to be attentive to the quality of sleep, how much does sleep, at what time goes to bed, personal hygiene, if he is extremely irritable when you are interrupted or denied internet access or video games, if he prefers to stay at home with the computer to instead of going out.

But the problem does not end there, pornography is easily accessible content on the Internet and according to Mary Anne Layden, director of the Sexual Traumas and Psychopathology program at the University of Pennsylvania “the presence of pornography in the lives of many adolescent children deforms the healthy sexual development of young people”. And we must not forget the grooming, individuals who try to get the friendship of a child for sexual purposes.

Some techniques that you can put into practice so that your child does not become addicted to technology are for example, change their routines, if the first thing they do in the morning is using the computer or the Tablet, instead of that, they can have breakfast, brush their teeth; if they play every evening before going to bed or after dinner, change that behaviour so that it stops being routine, that is not every day at the same moment; use alarms to control time, set an end time and when the alarm sounds the internet time is over; set weekly hours, specifying which days and at what time.

Keep your child busy with other activities, sports, reading and friends.

And above all, always check on the websites that browse, the history, the video games they play and the chat conversations. Respecting privacy is important but the safety of your children is even more important and it is not about completely restricting the use of the internet, as it is a very useful tool as well, teach them to use it properly and productively.