Today, around 3 billion individuals are in lockdown around the world and practically 90% of the understudy populace is cut off from school. It’s nothing unexpected that huge loads of adolescents and their folks are progressively associating with the surface world through screens they might have once respected with restriction or perhaps rebuke.

With every 130 nations limiting development to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s an ideal opportunity to recognize the web as a basic apparatus for kids’ admittance to learning, play, amusement, and social communication. To put it plainly, they could have tons to acknowledge from investing energy inside the computerized space.

However, for guardians who stressed over the time their youngsters spend via web-based media and web–based games before the pandemic, the metaphorical ‘bounce’ into screens likewise can cause more concern or perhaps trouble. How can children and families make the foremost of the increased reliance on screens which are helping to take care of a way of normalcy during lockdown while also finding the proper balance with other important activities?

Screen-time and gaming in the time of COVID-19

Research shows that social media and video games provide a temporary escape from real life and offer valuable social engagement. During COVID-19, many media outlets have chronicled their utility: Gaming might save your sanity during social distancing, I thought playing video games was unproductive until coronavirus, and Coronavirus Ended the Screen-Time Debate. Screens Won.

Digital game distributors, such as Steam report a considerable increase in the number of daily users over the past weeks: from 19 million in early March to a record high of 23.5 million in early April.¹ Especially popular are social simulation games like the Animal Crossing series or Minecraft, which allow players to build their worlds alone or together with friends.

But what about the risk?

A recent body of high-quality research has demonstrated that for children the impact of screen-time on mental health and well-being is fairly small. Other factors, namely parental support, family relationships, or adverse childhood experiences are more impactful than screen-time.

This body of work includes large-scale surveys of more than 350,000 children, longitudinal research with children in the UK, diary studies from the UK, Ireland and the US. Little evidence still exists in low-and-middle-income settings, where access is more limited. UNICEF’s recent report “Growing up in a connected world” states that while a small group of children will inevitably encounter adverse experiences when they use digital technology, this is not directly related to the time they spend online.

Rather, when considering such experiences, more attention should be paid to what children do online, the content they encounter, and their living environment and support network in general. Not too much, not too little, but just the right amount of screen time seems to be optimal for children. Screen-time has also been blamed for physical inactivity, a leading risk factor for global mortality which also contributes to childhood obesity.

Some argue that restricting the time children spend with screens is one way to increase physical activity, but this is not supported by research. For many stuck inside today, the opposite holds: active video games or exercise videos might be their best chance for physical activity.

But back to the question about balance. How we can help every child achieve it, both during a pandemic and when life goes back to normal?

What can be done?

Here are some key things to take into account:

• Staying in touch with friends is important:

During extraordinary times with a high degree of uncertainty and irregularity, children need to play and communicate with friends. Video games and social media can offer meaningful experiences during a pandemic: connectedness in a time where social interaction is reduced; entertainment when options are limited; and a tool to help take the edge off of anxiety and fear.

 

• Active engagement and parental oversight: 

Legitimate reservations around the content of some video games and a range of online risks that might befall children playing them can be mitigated by active parenting strategies. These include talking to children about their online experiences; making sure they do not play games intended for an older audience and observing their general mood and happiness as they play. Playing video games together with children is a good way to ensure that they stay safe. It can also be a lot of fun!

• Physical activity in front of screens:

Keep as a primary concern that during a pandemic, numerous youngsters won’t get the measure of actual work that they are utilized to. On the off chance that getting the hang of, mingling and play is, for the present, bound to the screen, we need better approaches to help youngsters stay dynamic. With limited outside development, the WHO has suggested dynamic computer games and online exercise classes as an approach to remain solid at home.

This is a decent arrangement since it gives both actual work and diversion. This exhortation is helpful both during the COVID-19 pandemic yet additionally when life returns to the ordinary. WHO likewise offers thoughts for stay-at-home actual work that is not carefully determined which is helpful for families with restricted availability.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shows, we are progressively dependent on advanced innovation. It has become a lifesaver for those of us bound to our homes.

Presently is a decent an ideal opportunity to return to suspicions connected to youngsters’ utilization of these gadgets, which frequently come from dread of the obscure. To counter these apprehensions, guardians may utilize the additional time they go through along with their youngsters while in lockdown to study each other’s universes, both advanced and physical.