Does your student (son or daughter) spend hours on the computer doing who knows what while his or her grades suffer? He may be addicted to technology. Technology addiction is a serious problem which can greatly hamper a person’s chance of academic success. Technology addiction usually comes in specific forms. Common technology addictions include gaming, instant messaging, text messaging, watching movies, watching TV, watching online videos, surfing the internet, or visiting inappropriate sites.,
.What are the tell-tale signs of a technology addiction? They include one or more of the following:
- Spending hours a day on the computer, cell phone or TV, while doing poorly in school.
- Staying up late on the computer every night, leading to daytime sleepiness, while accomplishing little.
- Not interacting with real people as part of a normal, healthy social life.
- Loneliness and depression.
- Having pain in one or both hands and arms from repetitive motions on the computer.
- Engaging in evasive conduct, such as placing one’s computer at an angle where it cannot be easily viewed by another from behind, locking the door to the student’s bedroom, taking a long time to answer the door, or having a quick rush of activity on the keyboard when the parent comes in, as the student tries to conceal what he or she is doing on the computer.
- Poor grades, below what the student is capable of.
- Receiving reports from the student’s teachers that homework is not being completed.
- Being unable to do anything, such as have a normal conversation, without the student continuously text messaging from his cell phone.
If these signs sound all too familiar, there is a good chance that your student has a technology addiction. Bring the issue to the student’s attention. Have a heart to heart discussion with them, raising your concerns. There is a good chance that even if they do have a problem, they will deny it. Be ready to offer evidence to support your contention, such as low grades, reports from teachers of sleeping in class, difficulty in getting up in the morning, having incomplete work, failure to complete home chores, failure to maintain adequate hygiene and appearance, having an unusually messy room, engaging in evasive behavior, and/or evidence of intentional deception. If he denies that there is a problem, it may be that he is correct, or it may be that he is in denial himself, or that he or she knows there is problem but does not want to admit it.
Professional assistance may be required to help them overcome the condition. This may include counseling, medication, behavioral intervention, or some combination thereof. In any event, ensure that you are not enabling the condition by doing nothing. Here are some ideas to help you as the parent to help your student to overcome this pathological condition:
- Set strict time limits for computer or other technology usage, such as a 1-hour window
- Place the computer in a public area where usage can be strictly monitored
- Place the computer screen facing the open part of the room, so that material on the screen can be easily viewed from behind
- Buy inappropriate content-blocking software such as Net Nanny or Surfwatch that can be used to prevent access to inappropriate internet sites, if that’s an issue
- Have an open-door policy or no-knock policy during the times in which the student has internet access. Make sure the student knows about the policy
- If the student’s computer is located in the bedroom, place the computer table facing the back of the room so that the screen can be viewed from behind at all times
- Tie use of the computer, cell phone, or other technology to certain benchmarks, such as maintaining a minimum GPA, and follow through on threats if the student does not meet the stated benchmarks within the stated time period
- If the student claims to need the computer for a school assignment, have an older sibling, parent or academic tutor work with them on the assignment to ensure the appropriate use of the computer
- Periodically do random checks of the sites visited link from the View History button on the search engine. (It looks like a circular arrow.)
If these interventions do not seem to be working, set up a consultation with a qualified professional who has specialized training/experience in child development and addiction. Have the student evaluated for technology addiction, and then follow the expert’s recommendations to help the student overcome his or her addiction.
Hopefully, you will never have to deal with technology addiction with your son or daughter. But if the signs listed above sound only too familiar, there is a good chance that your son or daughter is addicted to technology and needs professional assistance. Take affirmative actions to nip this problem in the bud. Don’t simply float along, because the longer you wait to intervene, the harder the problem will be to solve. Act as quickly as possible, and the problem can likely be solved before too much damage has been done.
And if you are the student and these signs sound all too familiar, the first step on the road to recovery is to admit you have a problem. Once you’ve taken that step, then it is possible to get help. Consider a program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous for recovery from alcoholism. If you try to kick the habit and are not successful, then getting professional help is the key. Consult a qualified professional