You should never catch children’s attention with smartphones and tablets. Even if the kid is upset or nervous, giving the smartphone will not fix the issue. It will do the opposite.
As a parent or future parent, you should know that technology negatively affects the cognitive system and emotions. In kids, it is highly dangerous because they are still developing their personalities. Wondering how technology lowers emotional intelligence in kids?
If you are interested in learning that and why it is essential to keep smart devices away from the daily routine, you should keep reading.
How Technology Lowers Emotional Intelligence in Kids
Smart devices are artificial intelligence that can replace human intelligence in many branches. Our brain is developed to express emotions, involving both feeling and thinking.
Conversely, artificial intelligence can only think, which, taken off the human’s emotional system, disrupts emotions and feelings. Therefore, we express some emotions without thinking about them.
The first thing technology does to the kids is take off their attention. When the kids are upset, we give them a smartphone or tablet to calm them down, but when you call their names, they do not perceive you. Their full attention is on the content they are watching on the smart device.
Further, as you keep calming the kids down with smart devices, they will become lazy and watch cartoons on the tablet instead of playing outside with the kids.
This leads to lower social intelligence, and your kids will have serious problems getting socialized if this keeps happening.
You must understand that technology negatively affects everyone’s brain and emotions. Prolonged and frequent use of smartphones can be detrimental to the physical as well as mental health of young kids. Now, let’s see more besides the main concern: how technology lowers emotional intelligence in kids.
Read More: How Technology Is Warping Your Memory
Technology and Intelligence
The good and the bad
Technology can be good for us in many ways. But, it can also be bad at the same intensity if we overuse it.
Technology is good for dissociating from a stressful environment, whether school, work, friends, or family. It is a fact that music can relax our body and mind and give us a break from tense moments.
We can simply play music and meditate. We use our smartphones, mini mp3 players, wireless buds, and headphones and drown for a while. Thanks to technology, we can give ourselves emotional and spiritual rest.
But, when overusing technology becomes a priority, we suppress many emotions and feelings. The feelings keep storing in ourselves, leading to frustration and anger. It might be much worse in kids because they would not develop some emotional skills.
Kids and technology are a bad combination because they become narcissistic and distinct from their and others’ feelings and thoughts. The conversation skills, positive interactions, and emotional expressions start crushing the children’s sense of humanity.
The Fall of Emotional Intelligence
As a result of using technology in the younger years, children become less compassionate toward others. Artificial intelligence wraps kids’ emotional intelligence and makes them unable to recognize their and other people’s feelings.
In the future, these kids may face social and relationship difficulties because they will not know how to interact with people or feel compassion toward a boyfriend or girlfriend. Also, they might face difficulties in environmental adaptation, like school or work.
The cognitive abilities issues caused by technology are excellently described in Dr. Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional Intelligence.
Dr. Goleman says empathy, self-awareness, and self-regulation add value to our cognitive abilities. Children are best prepared for life when they know and understand their emotional and social skills.
Technology, on the other hand, disrupts the normal brain and cognitive ability development, resulting in lower intelligence, whether in an emotional or social aspect. Children whose toys were replaced with technology devices will face school, work, and relationship adaptation issues.
As their emotional intelligence falls, they may face mental issues like depression, stress, and anxiety. These conditions also lead to low motivation for achieving personal life goals. Instead, these kids will become frustrated, intolerant, aggressive, and irritable.
How to Notice Emotional Intelligence Issues in Kids
Anxiety and low self-esteem
Anxiety is directly related to low self-esteem; in most cases, it reflects being nervous and worried too often. As kids grow, they worry about being accepted by society and often ask what people think about them.
Anxiety and low self-esteem further bring difficulties adapting to society and an inability for social interaction. You may notice that your kid is isolated and does not discuss anything with you or their friends.
Drastic mood swings
If you insist on asking the kid what is wrong or why he is upset, it may lead to immediate mood swings and aggressive reactions.
The kid may play and suddenly get nervous or aggressive if the toy or device blocks or does not do what the kid wants. The kid may also cry a lot over tiny things.
Irritability to everything
The kid may get highly upset if you try to remove the electronic device from his hands. It may happen to everything, even the tiniest toy or disagreement to go somewhere or buy something. Kids with damaged emotional intelligence get easily upset and overreact.
Obesity
Because technology makes kids (and adults, too) lazy, in most cases, damaged emotional intelligence leads to obesity.
The kids are not physically active because of social ability difficulties caused by technology. They would rather stay in bed watching YouTube than go outside to play football with other kids.
Conclusion
We hope we were able to provide you with enough information about how technology lowers emotional intelligence in kids. Giving devices to children might result in severe cognitive abilities damage. If you understand it, you will realize how important it is to avoid giving smartphones and tablets to toddlers and children.
Also, try to avoid using your smartphone in front of your kids because they will like to use it, too. Let your kid have unforgettable childhood memories that will teach him how to live and socialize.
