Are kids today spending more time online than offline? Is your child’s Internet use affecting his or her school performance, health, relationships with family and friends?

As indicated by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School Center for the Digital future, over 1/3 of parents believe that the Internet is affecting their children’s offline activities, and the number of concerned parents is rapidly rising.

While the Internet creates interest and excitement, is a great invention and effective for immeasurable projects, the Internet can also take away children’s productive time, especially when parents recognize that their kids’ school life and their social networking events are both happening online. It is however, the parents’ responsibility to keep an eye on their kids’ time online and introduce them to activities away from the computer screen during the day and week. Parents working together to help their kids to balance time online and offline is important because, kids really need balance, to engage in language skills, outdoor activities, exercising, spending time with family and friends, doing chores around the house to help them to develop healthy bodies and minds.

There is however, a minority of parents who have rules that limit their kids’ time online, with the exception of their homework during the week. Parents who are focused on their children not only keep the computer in a common family room and regularly converse with their children about what they are working on in the Internet, but they know that language skills are more important and are best developed through reading and interaction with others in conversation and play activities, and in the healthy development of social, emotional and intellectual skills. These parents also understand that more than 3 hours a day of online activity will only make risk-taking and social relationships in the future difficult for their kids.

What we may need are more role model parents, who know how to listen carefully and pay special attention to their kids’ online activity, manage the amount of time they spend online and teach their children how to prioritize what projects they need to get done for school online. Setting time limits also encourages kids and parents to find other constructive ways to share human interaction with their peers and family.

Moreover, present studies and trends show that because more schools require students to do their homework online while implementing a digital curriculum, the Internet will inevitably replace television viewing which means that parents need to communicate and manage their kids’ time online.

When children elect an Internet life as opposed to real life – social skills and creative activities – it’s time for parents to step in and punch the computer button off. Parents know best, that not only is moderation is a positive element and, but especially that there is much more for kids to experience in life than the Internet.

References

www.thestar.com/article/532224 - “When kids spend too much time online” November 7, 2008
www.momversation.com/forum, www.hr.com/hr/communities/kids, www.parenting.families.com
www.sfs-group.co.uk/news-industry - March 18, 2008
www.cnet.com – “When the PC becomes a parenting problem”
www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/technology - August 25, 2008 – “Spending too much time online”
www.internetfamilyfun.com – Here are some questions to ask if your kids are spending too much time online.
www.bizymoms.com – Cyber Nannies Online Education for Children