5 Adverse effects of Social Media on Parent-Child relationships?

We all are affected by the arrival of social media. It is almost impossible to get rid of social media as it helps to connect us with our friends, family, and the world. We can not ignore the adverse effect of social media on parent-child relationships

It is a source of information and entertainment. Social media has so many advantages and, still, we can not ignore its disadvantages.

Practically it is almost impossible to get rid of this new technology. The only way to be safe from the disadvantages is to be careful and mindful. We must supervise the usage of social media, especially when we are parents our responsibility increases as we have to look out for how our children use social media.

How does social media affect the parent-child relationship

We all know that children are surrounded by so much technology around them. When we are talking about the usage of the internet and social media by our children, we get worried. Here our concern is to protect our child and their mental and physical health.

But, in this digital era, it is almost impossible to keep them away from it. There are so many distractions for them smart TV, laptop, tablet, and the most disgraced, the smartphone. Smartphone puts the whole world in their palms and becomes an addiction.

Social media become parent’s headache and create conflict between children and parents putting their relationship at its worst. Parents want their children to keep away from their phones or put limitations on their usage of social media, whereas children want more usage of social media.

(Fact- Parents see only the disadvantages of social media while there are also advantages of it.)

There is no doubt that parents are always a concern for the child. But here children’s likes and dislikes play a big role in this situation. Be mindful while dealing with your child about social media usage. There are so many factors that will affect your children which may also affect the parent-child relationships.

So, it become necessary to improve parenting in the digital era to cope with the new challenges.

How Social Media Affect Parents

Social Media has a great impact on all of us. Talking about Parents also affects us emotionally, mentally, and physically. The average usage of social media is increasing and creates chaos in our lives.

The research says that accessive use of social media creates a negative bubble around us and we feel exhausted. We start to compare ourselves with others and constant comparison creates disappointment in our lives.

Your emotional health will be compromised this way and you feel upset, demotivated, and tired.

When we consume short-form videos it gives an instant dopamine hit and that continued hit of dopamine also becomes an addiction.

The habit of constantly using social media puts your attention span at its lowest which affects the quality of your life and leads you to unproductivity. Your work life and family life are compromised.

These all reflect in our parenting. How?

How does your parenting get affected?

Time-Consuming

social media is a time-eater, you get the notification, then you click it out of curiosity and that’s it. You had clicked it to see only one post that had been notifying but then you kept scrolling without realizing the time.  Your time gets running out and you don’t even realize it.

this time can be used for some productive work or you can spend time with family instead. But as you have spent some precious time on social media, you just lost it.

I’m not saying that you do not have to use social media or avoid connecting with your friends or relatives but use it mindfully. because your time has more value than ever you think.

This time can be spent with your child and where you give your time more value than it has. Just remember that children keep growing even when you are spending time on mobile.

You are losing to enjoying your child’s childhood, where you make lots of precious moments to live and enjoy. The moments of learning, experiencing, and exploring the new world of your child. The new strong bond with your child.

In other words, we can say that social media snatches your time when you can grow as a parent and as a person.

You reflect on your children

The overuse of Social media can lead you to a negative bubble where your thoughts are going negative, and you feel constantly emotionally drained.  The constant hit of dopamine makes you addicted to use more and more of it.

When you see others on social media it becomes the reason for comparison. You feel disappointed in your life and it will lead you to the stressful stage where you are not able to regulate your emotions.

When you are stressed and not able to regulate your emotions you get irritated easily and that irritation howls on your child. 

To make your child emotionally and mentally strong the parent or caregiver must be in a stage where they can regulate their own emotions.

The parent’s behavior has a strong impact on children that is reflected in their behavior, even in their adult lives. Parents play an important role in upbringing the child, to make them physically, mentally, and emotionally strong.

Parents are the safest and most loved person in the world. their importance can not be described fully in any words. But when they are not in a stage where they support their child emotionally it creates chaos in children’s life.

The child also becomes cringy, aggressive, and short-temper.

Remember that your reaction reflects in your child’s behavior.

Being not attentive

Generally when we are doing something our focus is on that task and it is normal behavior of a human being. The same pattern applies while you are using social media

You are in an entertainment mode where you don’t like to disturb you. Your total focus is on your mobile phone and at that time your child comes to you to share their feelings or some incident or they just want your attention to play with you and spend some time with you.

(Reminder- the attention that children want is mostly because they need a connection with you by playing with you or spending time with you.)

Now you can imagine what happens next.

You avoid your child and don’t give attention to them.

DO YOU KNOW HOW YOUR CHILD IS FEELING NOW?

They feel unloved.

If this happens multiple times then it is a wake-up call for you because over time your child feels that they are not important to you and you do not love them anymore. They feel lonely and unvalued, and then to get your attention they start to do mischief. They become stubborn sometimes.

Listening and communication are the best tools for parenting and these are both tools are avoided when you pay more attention to social media and mobile phones instead of your children.

By this social media affects the parent-child relationships.

Children are the Mirrors

Parents are the first role models of a child. Parents are the first influencers of children and they always copy their actions. 

They are watching you spend hours and hours scrolling the screen and wasting your time and starting to copy you. That is the reason nowadays children at the age of 1-2 become experts in using smartphones. It becomes like a toy for them, without knowing its side effects on their soft mind.

Then after a few years, they complain about the overuse by their child, bitter but true. 

They have learned the skill of scrolling the screen from you. You are the role model who influences them to use it without regulations.

Even parents also allow them to use it to get some free time.

And now both of your parents and children are on social media scrolling together but on their own phones.

Now they have no communication in between, they do nothing together. They have made their world in their smartphones and social media.

Thus, social media affects the parent-child relationships adversely.

Conclusion

Social media apps are designed to make you glued to it but it is you, who must use it mindfully. Your actions do not only impact you but also your children.

It is important to make rules and boundaries for the usage of mobile phones and social media. you have to teach them the healthy way of social media use, and for that, you should show them the mindful way of using social media. So, you can reduce the effect of social media on parent-child relationships.

It is us who can make a change in the world of our children. Fill their childhood with joyful moments, laughter, and giggles. These are the things that they will remember over the years.

Over time your child will grow and create their own world around them, like birds, they will fly away. What will make them connect with you is their childhood connection.

Always remember that parenting is not a one-day job, it is a lifelong project. To make parent-child relationships stronger we have to work on it regularly. There are multiple scientific tools to help with parenting 

Note:

To convince our children not to use of social media is not possible but as a parent, it’s our duty to have a conversation with our child about the usage of the internet and social media. It is our responsibility to teach them how to use it and how to be safe from its negative aspects. Social media is not totally bad if we teach them how to use it

We hope you get the value of this article. If yes, then please share it with other parents to raise awareness about parenting and making a healthy society. Our goal is to make your parenting journey beautiful so you can nurture your children in a way that they can thrive to their potential.

Your words are important to us. please share your opinion and thoughts in the comment section.

Happy Parenting

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