Internet causes mental health problems in children – 06/29/2023 – Tech

The internet is now one of the main reasons for mental illness in children and adolescents. And not just them, but adults too. Studies have proven the damage that excess screens and social networks are capable of causing in human beings in formation and, even so, our way of dealing with the internet — necessary for modern life — is still not the most correct.

There are those who doubt the damage technology has on child development. There are parents who do not accept the fact that the example begins at home and, therefore, it is necessary to start from them to reduce the use of screens. There are families whose professions revolve around the internet, which means that most of its members are connected most of the time.

The pandemic has exacerbated the situation. Confined, children and adolescents were forced to live with the outside world through screens, especially in remote classes. And it’s good that we had that option to preserve our lives.

But, especially in Brazil, where the extension of the health crisis was greater and more serious, with a denialist government, the damage left in children and adolescents deprived of social interaction tends to be greater. Which, unfortunately, we are already realizing.

Attacks on schools — intensified in 2023 — are nothing new, but they have been increasingly orchestrated and amplified through social media. It takes regulation and technological literacy. We need tougher legislation that punishes those who spread violence and fear and those who produce fake news.

Parents need to be responsible not only for what their children consume, but especially for what they themselves consume. The number of adults who spread false news is striking, the result of a society that does not read, is not informed and, many times, denies reality.

It is not possible to keep the child away from the internet, as this is a necessary tool these days. But it is necessary to try to mitigate the dangers, not only with monitoring, but with relationships. Foot on the grass, sun rays and eye to eye are good for human beings of any age.