A new study conducted by Hungarian and Canadian scientists suggests that using digital devices to calm children during emotional outbursts may have negative long-term consequences, naukatv.ru reports.
Children who are regularly given tantrum-control tools have more difficulty controlling their anger and frustration later in life, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Caroline Fitzpatrick, a professor at the University of Sherbrooke, said that while digital distractions may be effective in the short term, they also prevent children from developing important emotion regulation skills.
The study involved 300 parents of preschoolers answering a questionnaire about their media content use over the course of a year, and found that frequent use of “digital emotion regulation” reduced their children’s ability to cope with negative emotions.
Dr Veronika Konok from Eötvös Loránd University stresses the importance of children learning to regulate their emotions on their own, with their parents’ support, rather than using electronic devices.
The researchers also found that the more frequent a child’s tantrums, the more likely parents were to turn to gadgets, which only made the problem worse.
Psychologists recommend that parents help their children learn to recognize and deal with their emotions, rather than avoiding potentially emotionally upsetting situations.
