Children who are given smartphones to calm tantrums do not learn how to control their emotions, new research shows
It can be all too tempting to give a restless child a phone or tablet to calm him or her down.
But if they do, they may fail to learn to control their emotions, experts warn.
Children learn a lot about self-regulation – how to respond to certain situations – during their first years of life.
It can give them the ability to respond calmly rather than angrily in frustrating or stressful situations, and they learn how to interact with others and become independent.
In recent years, however, it has become more common to give children digital devices when their emotions become overwhelming.
Analysis found that the more parents used phones or tablets as a calming tool, the worse their children were at managing anger and frustration a year later
Researchers have found that this can have harmful long-term effects.
A team from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary asked 265 parents to complete questionnaires about their child’s behavior.
Their children were on average 3.5 years old and a follow-up questionnaire was administered one year later.
Analysis found that the more often parents used phones or tablets to calm their children, the worse their children were at managing anger and frustration a year later.
Dr. Veronika Konok, the first author of the study, said: ‘Here we show that if parents regularly offer their child a digital device to calm them down or stop a tantrum, the child will not learn to regulate their emotions.
‘This leads to more serious problems with emotion regulation later in life, particularly problems with anger management.
‘Tantrums cannot be cured by digital devices. Children need to learn how to manage their negative emotions themselves.
“They need the help of their parents during this learning process, not the help of a digital device.”
The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, also showed that children who were less good at controlling their anger were more likely to be given digital devices.
“It is not surprising that parents are more likely to use digital emotion regulation when their child has emotion regulation difficulties,” Dr. Konok said.
“But our results emphasize that this strategy may lead to the escalation of an already existing problem.”
According to the team, it is important not to avoid situations that could be frustrating for the child.
Instead, it is recommended that parents coach their children through difficult situations, helping them recognize their emotions and teaching them how to cope with them.’
They suggested that health care professionals who work with families could provide information on how parents can help their children manage their emotions without giving them a tablet or smartphone.
Professor Caroline Fitzpatrick, a researcher at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec and senior author of the study, said: ‘Based on our results, new training and advice methods for parents can be developed.
‘If people become aware that digital devices are not suitable for dealing with tantrums, it will benefit children’s mental health and well-being.’