DETECTION OF EXCESSIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGIES
Let's give an example of how the excessive use of technology is affecting a boy:
Juan, a 14-year-old boy, no longer interacts with his friends. For months his only fixation is playing the video game console. His parents have tried to convince him that “it’s bad” to spend so much time in front of the screen, but every time they do it, the child gets angry and rejects them. His behavior is changing: he is becoming more anxious and surly.
When they go out with him for a walk, they manage to enjoy some quiet time by leaving him the mobile to play and connect to the Internet.
Juan is also unable to pay attention to other tasks and it even seems that nothing satisfies him.
He used to play a lot of soccer in the park with his friends from the neighborhood, now nothing. He has exchanged them for new friends who are only on social networks.
He is triggering a DEPENDENCE that is making him change his emotional state and his personal habits. “We will have to act” |
Use this quiz:
Answer yourself these questions:
- When the minor is with other people, even his age, in the meantime, does he/she chat online with other people?
- Do you spend more than two hours a day in front of screens?
- Have you given up other activities and friendships in exchange for being “connected”?
- Is he/she continually aware of what happens on his social networks?
- Do you tend to adopt false identities and maintain them beyond the virtual environment?
- Does he/she worry when the battery runs out?
- Away from home, when you go somewhere, the first thing you do is look for free Wi-Fi and get upset if it’s not available?
If the answers to these questions are affirmative, it is probably an excessive use. ↓ It must be redirected |
We are going to invite the minor to meditate on these questions:
- Can dedicating a specific time to being “connected” but also doing other activities, help you to be happier and make the people around you happier?
- What activities have you stopped doing in order to be “connected”?
- What other types of activities would you like to spend more time on?
- What would happen if you planned a specific time each day to attend to your social networks instead of doing it every so often?
- Are you spending less and less time with family and friends?
Manage your time. How are we going to help you?
Realize the importance of doing each thing at the right time and reflect on what you spend that time on.
Explain them with examples: if at school or institute there are stipulated schedules so that they can learn different subjects and carry out activities, the same thing happens in the rest of the day, which allows us to have time for everything.
It is useful for both parents and children to note down the time spent and the times the following devices are used during the week: TV, video games, computer, mobile phone, tablet.
An agreement between teachers and students to limit the use of mobile phones
Excessive use of mobile phones in classrooms and in school, in general, by students is a problem in many European schools.
The presence of these devices has completely changed the climate of the classrooms and the relationship of students with their teachers and even with their classmates.
- Lack of discipline in class
- Lack of concentration in the classroom
- Induces sedentary lifestyle and other health problems (risk of videos and photos captures in the center being spread on social networks
How to limit the use of mobile phones to educational and didactic activities?
- Exceptionally permitted devices, for educational purposes.
- Always keep the phone on silent
- Create a free space in which mobile phones are deposited while they are not needed
- Propose alternative activities in recess time (playtime) so that the students do not have the need to be online