Thrusting a smartphone or tablet into the hands of a screaming toddler can be a quick way to calm a tantrum, but using electronic devices as “digital pacifiers” can be harmful, a study has found.
Children who are frequently given a device or plonked in front of the TV when upset to “divert their attention” away from the source of their distress find it harder to regulate their own emotions when they are older, leaving them with “anger management” issues, research suggests.
“We frequently see that parents use tablets or smartphones to divert the child’s attention when the child is upset,” said Prof Caroline Fitzpatrick from the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, a senior author of the study. “Children are fascinated by digital content,