Are we worried about the use by children of smart phones and computers?

A pediatric expert's recommendation stated that the belief that illuminating electronic devices pose a high risk to children is not based on sufficient scientific evidence.

She pointed out that parents were not concerned about the use of children to watch as long as they followed the hours of use of these devices by the children.

Although these recommendations do not specify a specific period for computers, tablets and smartphones, they have been advised not to use them in the hours before bedtime.

Experts said that it was important not to use these devices at the expense of hours of sleep, exercise and time spent with the family.

Criticisms were of a review of scientific evidence regarding the potential harm badociated with the use of children's screens in research published jointly with the latter, thus raising the debate on the desirability of having a child. impose restrictions on the use of children for instructors.

At the same time, a separate study suggested that the chances of developing depression symptoms in girls at the age of 14 due to the use of social networking sites and networks are twice as much higher than those of boys.

"No proof of his injury"

The Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, which oversees the training of specialized pediatricians, recommended that under-18s not have enough scientific evidence to say that the time spent in front of the screens was "harmful to health" .

An examination of the evidence revealed a link between high rates of use of screening, obesity, and depression.

However, the Royal College's recommendations suggested that high screen usage rates were probably not related to these issues, and there was no indication that people with these health conditions were going through too much of their screenings. time on the screens.

The recommendations were co-authored by several pediatricians at the University of London, including Russell Feiner, President of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.

The Royal College has stated that it will not impose any limit on the amount of time spent in children's screens, as there is no evidence that long-term electronic devices are harmful to health, regardless of the stage of their childhood. .

Instead, the college has published questions to help the family decide how much time children spend in front of the screens, as follows:

• Does your family control their time?

• Does the time spent by children in front of the instructors interfere with what your family wants?

• Does the use of monitors interfere with the hours of sleep?

• Can you control eating while using monitors?

Smartphones, computers and tablets were "great tools for discovering the world," but parents often feel that there is "a mysterious mistake" using these devices, said Max Davy, Head of Development at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. .

"We want to make sure that if you use them correctly and answer these questions, get one, enjoy your life and stop worrying."

"But if there are problems and they start to face difficulties, it may be time to use screens that cause these problems."

"Screens are part of modern life, genius is out of the bottle and we can not bring it back," he said.

He stressed that it was urgent to continue advising parents to do what they did right, balance the benefits and risks.

"No one measure fits all sizes, and parents should think about what's good and good for their children," he said.

Parents should also watch the time they spend in front of the screens, if the family controls this time and if there is excessive use that affects the child's development and daily life, has he declared.

Gray area

It is thought that children should not spend time in front of screens before going to bed before it is proven that they have been harmed if they do.

These devices activate the brain and the blue light emitted by these devices disrupts the secretion of melatonin, which helps to sleep.

The Royal College has stated that the "nighttime conditions" governing the control of smartphones and computers in no way prove their effectiveness.

In general, the recommendations of the British College have shown that the adverse effect of long-term use of surveillance devices is mitigated by other factors such as sleep, physical activity, diet, bullying and poverty.

She pointed out the lack of evidence showing that the time spent using screens was beneficial for health and recommended the college to negotiate with the family with children on setting time limits for the Use of electronic devices to avoid the need for sleep and the impact that screens may have on the hours of sleep. Physical and social activities.

For young children, parents must decide what content they watch and how long screens are used.

Older children should become more independent in the use of smart phones and computers, but this should be progressive and placed under the supervision of parents, as recommended.

"As for screens, I think it's important to encourage parents to do what's right for their family," Davy said.

However, there is a "gray area" in which parents need support, which explains the publication of these recommendations by the Royal College, according to Davy.

It is likely that there are age limits for the use of screens that are negotiated by parents and children and that all family members understand.

Social Communication and Children

The study on the impact of social communication on children was conducted by experts from the University of London College and published by the journal Clinical Medical Medicine.

The survey included a survey of 11,000 children answering questions about the use of social networking sites, networks and apps, electronic harbadment, sleeping hours, the ## 147 ## ### ############################################################################## 39, self-esteem and body image.

The recommendations of this study are independent of those of the Royal College of Pediatrics, Child Health and Audit, which examined evidence of damage to the use of control devices for the health of children. None of these documents dealt with social communication.

Experts who do not participate in the social communication study said the study added new evidence that excessive use of social communication could be detrimental to mental health.

But they called for more research to better understand how depression is caused by social communication and whether the problem is that depressed people resort to excessive use of social communication.