Pacifying children by handing them digital devices can disable them in managing emotions later in life, which can grow into anger management issues, research has found.
Conversely, parents of children, who already had poor emotional control, were found to be overly relying on electronic devices to silence them, worsening the pre-existing conditions.
It is known that a child learns much about self-control, including how to choose a deliberate response over an automatic one, during the first few years of their life.
However, a team of researchers from Hungary and Canada found that this recent trend can cripple a child’s ability to effectively recognise and manage emotions later in life.
“Tantrums cannot be cured by digital devices. Children have to learn how to manage their negative emotions for themselves,” shares Veronika Konok, first author of the study.
“It’s not surprising that parents more frequently use digital devices to calm children down if their child has emotion regulation problems,” Konok added.