Are parents selfies taking a toll on their child's psyche?

Dr Manjiri Deshpande, Child Psychiatrist, Docterz, Mumbai, briefs you about the impact of technology on the parent-child relationship.

It s a known fact that technology and families don't always go hand-in-hand. "Both influences have managed to contribute to a rising divide between the old-style roles that kids and their parents play while simultaneously, distorting those same lines between parents and children. While living in the contemporary selfie-generation, it is a common sight to behold children spending hours clicking selfies and posting pictures of themselves on the virtual medium. Today, you would be hard-pressed to find a teen who is not busy in documenting his or her everyday existence complemented with a sequence of front-facing camera snaps," says Dr Manjiri Deshpande, Child Psychiatrist, Docterz, Mumbai. She also highlights the safety measures which parents should take.

So, from where do these kids inculcate these selfie habits and the undying love for digital media from?

"A common answer that one would typically expect is from their peers and friend circle. It s not only the children who are to be blamed for the developing rift between parents and their offspring. In fact, the parent s involvement in social media with the increased usage of mobile phones, messaging apps and the never-ending selfie craze, is a major aspect causing the child to follow suit. Kid's definitely learning and inculcate what they can observe around them may it be at school or within the confines of home. The parental social media addiction is equally responsible for contributing to the growing distance and aloofness that appears to be aggregating in families. They are often absorbed up in their own technology world, for instance, speaking on their mobile phones, checking email, or being glued TV, when they should try and converse, play, or do things to strengthen the bond with their children. Instead of nurturing the parent-child bond through face-to-face communication with their children, new-age parents prefer joining their kid s in cyberspace," explains Dr Deshpande.

Decoding the link between selfie addiction and instant gratification

Clicking self-portraits are nothing but a natural fascination with their own image or a deadly addiction to instant gratification. It's not uncommon for doting guardians to click thousands of cell phone portraits of their child. Like any other fun thing that children tend to get obsessed with, clicking too many selfies can be a bad thing for them. "This love for selfies can create infants who expect immediate gratification. Child-centric photographs can definitely facilitate in building a healthy self-image and will encourage childhood memories only when handled appropriately. Shooting or clicking of too many videos and pictures and then playing them back immediately to soothe a demanding toddler could backfire in a negative way. The instantaneous satisfaction and fulfilment that smartphones offer today's toddlers with are going to be hard to overcome in the upcoming years. Children like things instantly, and they like it short and quick. It will surely have an influence on kids' capability to wait for gratification," says Dr Deshpande.

This is what parents should do:

Today, we have all reached to the point where it looks like parents and children are either texting or emailing each other more than actually talking to each other on a face-to-face basis even while at home together! Talking to your kids about the what and when of sharing images is an important component of healthy parenting.

Discussing social media usage, its effects and setting some boundaries and rules is essential. Although, you might sometimes fail to comprehend why our kids want to click photos of themselves at all hours of the day, keeping them secure in a selfie-obsessed world is possible.

Parents must leave no stones unturned in limiting their own screen-time, this can create a big improvement in reforming their kids.