This is an age of science and technology. Just like everything else, the healthcare industry is also rapidly expanding on digital platforms. There are countless apps, blogs, YouTube videos, and other digital tools that can help you manage your health. Healthcare specialists are offering their advice and many pharmacies, like emeds.pk, are offering their services online.

The new generation is much more at ease with technology than their parents. They frequently make use of various digital tools for countless purposes, including healthcare. Digital healthcare has innumerable benefits for families. It allows you to keep track of your health, manage it in a better way, access information relevant to your health, and live more productively.

Risks of Digital Health Over-Reliance

Children and many adults have a habit of going overboard in the usage of technology. This produces new concerns that must be addressed. Technology is progressing and spreading at a fast rate. The research made on it cannot keep up with such rapid spread. By the time researchers address the health concerns of a certain technology, it has already become obsolete.

However, the majority of studies conducted on digital healthcare for children show its advantages, as well as disadvantages.

Tips to Improve Your Children’s Digital Health

To soothe parents’ worries about their children, we have outlined a few strategies which can help. Parents will better understand how technology impacts their children and improves their lives.

• Strict Management of Screen Time

Parents can set a timetable or a reward system for their children. They can tempt them into earning screen time by urging the children to pursue healthier ways of making use of their time. Parents can set up a system where there is a balance between their children’s tech usage and the development of real- life relationships with other people.

• Promotion of Physical Activity

Parents can set a timetable or a reward system for their children. They can tempt them into earning screen time by urging the children to pursue healthier ways of making use of their time. Parents can set up a system where there is a balance between their children’s tech usage and the development of real-life relationships with other people.

• Monitoring of Mental Health

There is scientific evidence that suggests increased use of technology has a direct correlation with rising levels of anxiety, depression, and suicide among kids. Parents need to keep an eye on their children and ensure they are mentally well-balanced. Online bullying, flaming, shaming, and blackmail are common tactics through which predators can target children. As a parent, you must prevent it. This should be done by talking to your child(ren) asking them about how they're feeling while calmly listening and responding to them. Overreacting or yelling at your children will make them closed off and not want to tell anything to you in the present and future. Make them feel as comfortable as possible around you.

• Reduce Stress on Children

A few decades ago, it would have been unthinkable for a mere child to be under too much stress. Nowadays, it is the norm. The pace of life is unimaginably fast, and it places undue expectations on the children. Parents must take positive steps to boost their children’s digital health, as well as psychological well-being. A big problem children face on social media is comparing themselves to others which lead to them having an inferiority complex. They must be told and reminded not to do so and that most of what's seen on social media isn't the full story or is 'fake'. Stress from digital mediums is not the only contributing factor. While not related to the subject matter but still needing to be addressed, another huge source of stress children face is academic pressure. They must be reassured that it is okay not to always get the best grades and that it is okay to fail at times, not every child is academically smart or is good at school. Academics isn’t the end all be all, children must also be allowed to choose the career path they desire and not forced into studying or doing something they don't want to do.

• Make Use of Digital Health Tools

There are many digital health tools available online which can help parents keep their children healthy and well-adjusted. They can investigate the physical and emotional health symptoms they detect. They can learn prevention methods and correctly apply them. Wellness and exercise apps can also help them promote a healthy lifestyle for their children, as well as themselves. Digital health tools can even make exercise fun.

• Discourage Digital Use During Bedtime

Digital devices are the biggest hindrance for the latest generation from getting their sleep. Parents can ban their children from the use of any technology in the bedroom. They can also install charging devices outside the bedrooms, encouraging children to leave their devices outside when it’s time to sleep.

• Encourage Productivity

Technology is a tool. It is up to the user to make use of it for a productive reason. Research suggests that productivity in many developed countries has declined with increased usage of smartphones. Technology does enhance our lives, but it doesn’t necessarily help in productivity. Parents must teach their children to appreciate and pursue productivity. They must believe in achievements through hard work. Setting and pursuit of a goal from a young age can help them become well-adjusted citizens in the future.

• Set Guidelines for Digital Conduct

Children do not have the same sense of paranoia or self-preservation instinct as adults. Parents must sit their children down and set guidelines on the dos and don’ts of the digital world. They must teach their children what to share online, and what not to, whom to trust, how to communicate online, how to avoid predators, and what ethics to follow.

• Teach Children How to be Human

The connectivity might be increasing every day, but there is no denying, this is an age of loneliness. People do not hesitate to leave thoughtless comments. Bullies have no restraint. Children are the biggest victims of such conduct. A parent must teach their children that human values still apply when they go online. They can dream, but not at the risk of trampling others, or allowing themselves to be trampled by others.