Pete Dunlap, the founder of Digital Detangler, highlights dangers facing children in the modern world, and how parents can help prevent them…
When it comes to children, sometimes our zest for safety comes at the expense of real dangers. Having safe areas for playing and sleeping is important, but also consider these dangers that can have a real impact on your children’s wellbeing.
Not being spoken to
Although it may feel silly, engaging in conversation with an infant—one-sided though it may be—has real benefits. Scientists have long suspected that children who frequently use screens experience language delays. The delays are not because screens are inherently bad, but because you tend to talk less when a screen is on. A controlled experiment demonstrated that in homes where a television is audible, there is a 90% drop in the number of words that adults speak to infants and toddlers.
What to do instead:
If you decide to set daily limits on screen time for your children, Anya Kamenetz, author of The Art of Screen Time, recommends no more than a half-hour for babies and toddlers, and no more than two hours for children over four. Even if you can’t meet those guidelines, engage your children in a dialogue about the content they are consuming. What did they think about the episode? How would they feel if they were in the situation depicted?
Getting injured because you were on your phone
Do you remember when you started checking your phone incessantly? It was probably when you first got a smartphone. Unfortunately, being physically present isn’t enough to keep our children safe. A careful study by an economist from Yale found that as the iPhone was introduced to a county, hospital injury reports rose. Infants under age one were most affected and saw a 10% rise in serious injuries. This phenomenon is taking place on a national scale as well: injuries to kids under five grew 12% nationwide from 2007 to 2010, despite declining for most of the prior decade.
What to do instead:
As much as possible, shift nonessential device use from your smartphone to your laptop instead. Ideally, use your phone in tools-only mode—calls, texts, and navigation only—while supervising a child. If that sounds like too much of a challenge, consider paying someone to supervise the child.
Being involved in a car accident
Car accidents are the most common cause of death of school-aged children. Traffic deaths have been rising since 2014, despite falling for decades prior. Could distracted driving be the cause? It’s estimated that 25% of fatal crashes involve a phone, and the vast majority of parents admit to driving distracted by phones and onboard electronics. It is hard to overstate the importance of focusing on driving while you are on the road.
What to do instead:
AT&T DriveMode is the premier app for staying off your phone while in the driver’s seat. It is supported on Android and iOS and can be configured to allow navigation to continue working. Otherwise, simply put, if you are in vehicle, your phone stops working. I assure you the safety gains are worth the boredom. It might even create space to listen and talk with your children.
The last thing you need is someone judging how you parent. This list isn’t meant to make you feel guilty or inadequate as a parent—for what it’s worth, everyone feels that way—rather, I hope you have a few new ideas on how to keep your kids safer.
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