Digital age, new addictions..

Hello there!

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Welcome back to my weekly newsletter on Smart Parenting! It’s the new avatar!

Are you tired of asking your kids to keep their phones down and study without any technological distractions?

Is studying two hours with focus minus any digital device too much to ask in today’s times?

The kids are so addicted to their phones and laptops these days that they get distracted easily over the internet. They open their phone to check meaning of a word or to read the definition of a word, and then suddenly they find themselves on Whatsapp or Facebook.

Somehow the twenty minutes that the kids promise themselves or a parent on a digital device, turns into two hours and so on and so forth…

Can there be some way to limit the distractions caused by digital devices?

Well, my own kids had this problem like any other millennial or Gen-Z.

As a Gen-Z parent, I try to come up with new age solutions for the new age problems of my kids. My kids when they first discovered these OTT platforms to stream on devices they became really addicted to the same. They even overused Whatsapp and Youtube. Hours of homework or study time would be invested in finishing off moves or TV series.

I sat my kids down gently and asked them about their plan to curb their social media usage or OTT hours. Their willingness to admit their mistake and change their behavior made my job a little easier.

Together we came up with a plan. ?I allowed them 30 minutes of internet or digital device times 4 times a day at regular intervals of their choice, or individual time table.

They agreed to give it a try. After some getting used to, post initial hiccups, we got on track. After about a month, they came to me with a positive feedback. Their addiction had waned away. They were more focused and more present mentally in their studies and homework assignments.

Their sleep schedule improved and they were able to include more productive habits in their lifestyle.

Dealing with digital addiction when it comes to kids/teenagers isn’t easy. With everything social or educational in covid-19 era been compacted into one handy device, it’s hard to stay away from that. But setting a fixed time table for social media or OTT would reduce the screen time drastically and tackle the issue of time waste.

But what would make it easier for your kid to follow your advice? Lead by example. Limit your screen time also. Set a time table for yourself as well. Your kids will follow suit.

On an additional note, here are four of my books who are greatly revered by parents and students alike. Both can greatly benefit from them. I have interviewed hundreds of toppers and simplified and codified their success mantra into these.?

2 Productivity hacks (That actually works):-

·???????Start Monitoring your Screen time- When you start monitoring the screen time, this will bring to your attention the amount of time that you spend before screens. You will be shocked when you see your screen time. You can also see the screen time of different apps and see which app is consuming how much time.

·???????Turn off the notification- Every time your cell phone buzzes, there’s a notification and all of a sudden, your focus from study shifts to the cell phone. So it’s better to turn off the notification alerts of different apps like Whatsapp, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

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Free Goodie

·??????As a gesture of courtesy for providing immense love and support to my newsletter, I want to share my latest?email course-?“10 days to better Parenting-A Step by Step Guide to Raise happy, Successful and responsible children”.?This is an email course where you will get 7 secrets, one every day on your email.

So, enjoy the course and next month I will be back again with something new and?exciting.