WHY PARENTS SHOULD MONITOR CHILDREN'S MOBILE PHONE HABIT
By Inyang, Victor

As we are all aware that communication is important in our day to day activities. Communication involves the exchange or transfer of information between various parties. In contemporary times, the mobile phone is an important electronic device that helps the conveyance of information from point A to B without stress.

Should we then say that our children must not be part of information sharing through mobile phones? I am of the opinion that other means of communication like land phones, postal mails etc should be given more priority ahead of mobile phone use for our children.

This is not to say that mobile phones use are not also not dangerous for the adults. It is important to know that your children face higher health risks from cell phones. The potential harm from (MWR) Microwave Radiation emitted by wireless device particularly for children and urban babies is the crux of discussion in this article.

According to Morgan and colleagues, children and urban babies do face a greater risk for bodily damage that results from MRW given off by wireless devices. Several studies have confirmed that children absorb more MWR than adults. This is because the brain tissue of children absorbs twice the level of MWR than that of adults.

The brain tissues of a child are more absorbent, their skulls are thinner and relatively smaller in size. Further studies have revealed that fetuses are significantly vulnerable because MWR exposure limits have remained unchanged for 19 years they added.

As a parent, you appreciate cell phones because it is a technology that allows you to reach your kids and be reached in emergencies. In the real sense of it, when considering the health risks of cell phones, your kids wouldn't need mobile phones. You reserve the responsibility to set the rules.

Radiation from a cell phone is comparable to the microwaves from your oven. These kinds of electromagnetic field (EMFs) easily filters through the kid's brain. EMFs cause breaks in the blood-brain barrier, which is more permeable in kids. Now the question arises. As parents will you allow your child put his/her head in a microwave oven? The answer is an absolute NO.

Taking a look at these damages the mobile phones cause a child, you will agree with me that radiation actually 'cooks' the growing brains. Exposure to electromagnetic pollution is not exclusive to cell phones, tablets, and other wireless devices are also agents of Electromagnetic pollution.

It is important for parents to insist on devices that are 'hardwired' (plugged in directly for an internet connection). They do not emit radiation; however, maintaining a safe distance is still important. There is, therefore, no need for your hard-wired device to be running wireless simultaneously.

Moving away from discussing all the health damages that are embedded in mobile phones, we must as parents agree that our kids need a lot of sleep and trust me when they are allowed to have a cell phone, throughout the night, they will be quietly texting friends for hours. This makes them ending up looking as horrible as ghosts in the morning time. This is because they deprived themselves of sleep.

In several schools, there are cell phone policies the kids are expected to adhere strictly to. But sadly, parents have not done their part by emulating similar policies in their various homes, this makes the school cell phone policies unproductive. The use of cell phones in schools causes a lot of distractions to learning.

Surveys have also shown that the use of cell phones in school encourages cheating, rumors spreading among school kids.

Another disadvantage of cell phone use among kids is emphasized when the ardent use of cell phones interferes with family activities. Parents often discover that during family meetups and mealtime, conversation through text messages and phone chats distracts kids from family members during family times. This shows that kids do not possess the ability to control their addiction to mobile phones and do not have the self-control to avoid the use of the phone during sensitive get together.

The use of phone has also exposed the kids to immodest practices. One of these practices is masturbation. Young people learn to masturbate after accessing various porn sites and nude images on the internet through their mobile phones. They also end up practicing what they have been exposed to on the internet. Other several violent contents on the internet pollute the minds of the kids.

If your child must use a mobile phone, efforts must be made to install parental control software on it. That way, you can restrict access to certain types of websites, get real-time GPS locations and filter out chats users and messengers to keep your child protected from online predators.

Parental control apps for smartphones can also help kids understand the value of limits in a digital world while preventing them from accessing adult contents or texting with strangers.

The big question is how and what we must do to control our kids from mobile phone addiction. We may live in a super technological era, but it doesn't mean that our kids should grow up completely digitalized. Parents must learn to be in control at all times and put some boundaries in place.
With parenting comes concern for the welfare of their child, as well as questions about their children's level of responsibility. 77% said that they are concerned that the phone could be lost easily. 72% of parents have concerned that smartphones pose too much distraction and 71% worried that their children would spend too much time with their devices. The lack of control of what content their kids would see online was also a concern (68%), and 67% expressed that their children might not know how to use their phones responsibly.

The antidote to those concerns includes better safety controls and features to block inappropriate content (55%), better usage controls to limit access and better service plan options for children (34%).

So once a child has a phone, how are they using their device? The top mobile activities including text messaging (81%) downloading apps (59%) and playing pre-installed games and mobile internet/accessing website (53%).

A modern-day child regards staying without a mobile phone as mundane and monotonous. Their inquisitive nature is one of the reasons they explore the internet to break new grounds socially. It is not surprising that today's 'generation z' are more tech-savvy than ever before with over 90% of age 8-14 in Britain owning a mobile phone. Over half of children under the age of 10 have mobiles with 10 being the average age that kids get their first phone.

As I have highlighted in this piece, that the increasing use of mobile phones by children raises numerous issues ranging from health issues to poor academic performance among the younger generation. Therefore parents should always note that the youthful generation which is pretty sensitive in nature than their adult counterparts should be immensely observed as their quest for the use of mobile devices frightfully increases.

Mobile phone safety for children.

I) Due to the sensitivity of the brain of kids, it is advisable for parents to avoid buying phones for children under 16.

II) Limit the use of cell phone around children.

III) Ensure that there is no mobile phone mast or tower near the kid's school.

IV) Do not allow children take mobile phones to school.

V) Avoid allowing your children keep mobile phones in their bedroom at night.

VI) Do not let your child make calls in buses, trains, cars, and elevators. The cell phone works harder to get signal through metallic objects, which increases the power level.

VII) Discourage your child from holding a mobile phone directly up to his head. The use of handsfree or headset device is strongly advisable.


Based in Nigeria, Inyang Victor is an expert creative/freelance writer. His strong area is Humanities (Politics, Parenting, Business Development, Arts) and writing of detailed SEO posts that ranks high on google.

inyangvictorc@gmail.com
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