The Danger of the Digital Pacifier: Screens and their Emotional Effects on Childhood

With the arrival of summer holidays, long car trips, out-of-home meals and leisure times are common. In this context, you only have to look at the dining room of any restaurant or the inside of a train to see the significant image of a young child, nervous or angry, and his parents turning on the screen immediately to calm down.

Although these devices function as instantaneous painkillers, their continued use affects the child's ability to regulate . A child, within his or her learning, needs these outbursts of anger because he or she has to learn how to regulate himself or herself. If we cover up the child's negative feelings, we do not allow him or her to develop those skills necessary for personal and social life, says Primary Care pediatrician Leire Ferro.

The doctor has stressed the importance of respecting the natural process of childhood.The age of two to three is very important; if we anesthetize these feelings of the child rather than accept them, then they will not be able to manage this emotional discomfort. He has also warned that this habit can cause serious behavioral problems, impulsiveness and lack of emotional control in the child.

To these psychological effects must also be added physical effects such as obesity, sleep disorders, early myopia and the delay in the developmentof language. In the long run, this disconnection entails serious attention difficulties and a lower vocabulary, among others.

Dr. Ferro Galardi says that this emotional gap in the early years is evident in adolescence: "When they reach adolescence, they find it very difficult to express their feelings," he says.

"I am particularly concerned about their difficulties in expressing sadness and anger, or their inability to understand oneself," the expert added, referring to the emotional illiteracy caused by the excessive use of technology.

However, the problem lies not only in the early use of the smaller ones, but also in the problematic behaviour of adults. The concept of "technoference" defines how the continued use of the mobile phone by parents hinders contact with children.

The pediatrician recalls that parental responsibility begins from the first day of life: "From a very young age, when we are breastfeeding, if we are with our mobile phone at all times, for example, we are not paying attention to the child's feelings; whether he is eating well or whether he is well placed." This lack of silence and visual connection has a negative impact on the affective relationship.

Faced with this scenario, which is a general concern, for the first time all the medical associations in the Basque Country have come together to draw the attention of the institutions and society at large to the problem.