Children And Digital Life

In this modern era we are in, things have really changed a lot compared to how they were back in the early 2000s. Back in the days when we used to sit in the parlour to watch TV, my dad would never allow us to watch movies by the very famous 'Aki & Pawpaw' because, according to him, they taught children bad things. But those guys were so fun and interesting to watch, so whenever he was away, we would comfortably have a good time watching their movies.

The same thing applied to movies with near-sex scenes. Ooh! He would shout at whoever inserted the VCD/DVD plate to play. Those were the days. But what about now? Things have really changed, to the point that even a 10-year-old child can comfortably click "Yes" to the warning that says "Are you sure you're 18 years old?" just to access a restricted site. It’s a digital world already, and it's very hard to control children regarding the kind of things they navigate to on their phones.

Once I start having children, from their very early age, I'm not going to restrict them from using phones as a lot of people suggest. No, they will use phones, but very controlled phones.
They’ll use two phones: a non-internet phone and an internet-access phone but highly restricted.

The non-internet phone would be for them to make calls—say, to reach out to us (their parents). I don't know how the situation of things is going to be, but I'm sure there will be times when they'll be left locked in the house alone, and in case anything goes wrong or there’s any emergency, they’ll need to reach out.

The other phone, which is the internet-access phone such as a smartphone, will be restricted from connecting to the internet. This is to prevent them from navigating to unwanted sites. I would make sure that a lot of their kind of movies are saved on YouTube or downloaded into the phone files, so they can navigate and keep themselves entertained in case they’re alone and want to have fun. Even if they try to play smart by connecting the phone to an external internet network, I will still set the phone in such a way that they won’t be able to use it. How? Yes, it’s very possible to restrict a child’s phone usage.

Won’t they be allowed to watch TV?

Of course, they’ll be allowed, and it’s much easier to control what children watch on TV by using the parental guide settings.

I’m focusing more on the phone because, in today’s world, it is the easiest means to spoil a child. Back in the days when we were growing up and phones were not common, we were more engaged with the immediate environment—adventuring and learning cultures, traditions, and the lifestyle of the area. But in this era, a child can live completely in Nigeria and behave like a child in Europe—displaying attitudes like calling their parents by name just because that’s what they watch and read on the internet.

When children are already grown but still need to be checked on their digital lifestyle, the best way to manage that is by building good communication with them. That way, you’ll have the chance to educate them on the good and bad sides of their phones, because at that age, you can no longer strictly restrict anything on their phones. If you lock access, they can spend their last money to give a phone technician to flash it and restore it back to normal. Lol.

Thanks for reading.

This is my entry to Digi-prompts of the week.

Photos used are mine

Posted Using INLEO