Yeşilay Issues Important Warnings to Parents

Yeşilay, an organization combating addiction to promote healthy living for all, has warned parents about children and young people's screen usage as summer holidays reach their midpoint. Yeşilay Chairman Prof. Dr. Mücahit Öztürk drew attention to the increased risk that internet use during school breaks can turn into addiction related to digital gaming, social media, online gambling and online shopping, and continued: "Technology, a product of our age, is present in every aspect of our lives. What matters at this point is to use technology productively and keep our children's usage under control." As shown by the Turkish Statistical Institute's (TÜİK) Research on Information Technology Use in Children, internet usage among children aged 6-15 has risen to 82.7 percent, while 90.1 percent of these children use the internet almost every day. Yeşilay, continuing its work at full pace in the field of technology addiction alongside alcohol, tobacco, substance and gambling dependencies, emphasized that young ages constitute a risk group for technology addiction and offered recommendations to parents.   Yeşilay Chairman Prof. Dr. Mücahit Öztürk, noting that parents bear responsibility for time management during holidays and the duration children spend in front of screens, explained: "Preventing uncontrolled internet use during summer holidays and guiding our children to spend their screen time productively is of great importance. As Yeşilay, we recommend that parents explain to their children the importance of free time and lead them to engage in different activities for self-development. Children's socialization with friends also proves very beneficial for them to begin the new school year with good mental health."  

Recommendations for parents

• You can create an activity plan by identifying useful activities that will interest your children. • When creating the activity list, considering your child's wishes will increase motivation. You can write things you can do on small pieces of paper, put them in a box or jar, and proceed by selecting from them. Silent cinema, musical chairs, board games, creating your family newspaper or presenting a news bulletin together, trying to draw with eyes closed, and creating a story by taking turns adding to it are some examples of such activities. • You must include time your children will spend with their friends in the activity plan. • You should not forget that spending time outdoors and engaging in various sports activities will have positive effects on your child's physical and mental health. • When children feel bored or negative emotions, they may want to turn to technological devices. Chatting with them and asking for their support by giving them small responsibilities in various tasks will help redirect their attention to more positive areas. • By creating daily or weekly tables that include computer time, free time, activities, household responsibilities and meal times, you can control how you use your time. • The internet offers wonderful options for learning new information; your child can acquire many skills from dancing to language learning, from coding to drawing, from producing animation videos to composing music, you can share what you learn with each other, and perhaps create a project together as a family. • By talking with your children about internet use, you can establish rules about how, when and where the internet can be used. You can tell them that if they encounter content that bothers them online, they can consult with you and that you will be there for them. • You can talk with your child about what information should not be shared with people they don't know. For example, you can explain that their date of birth, home address or which school they attend need not be known by anyone other than close friends or relatives you know. • You can explain to your child that not all information they encounter on the internet may be correct; this way you can help them distinguish between correct and incorrect information. You can watch videos with correct information together and provide examples from reliable sources. • Suddenly turning off or taking away technological devices while your child is using them can cause the child to become angry and insist more on continuing. Instead, you can give the child a short and specific timeframe to stop playing. For example, based on the agreed time, you can remind them by saying "10 minutes left, 5 minutes left." • To improve digital wellbeing, you can determine time intervals away from technology together with your child. During these time periods, which you will decide together, you can turn off your phone or notifications and disconnect from technology.