How to Protect your Kids from Overuse of Technology

source: familyfriendlyhq.ie

We have been discussing the effects of increased use of technology on our kids from a long time now and it is absolutely true that excessive use of anything can create an impact on their childhood, emotional development or even the behavior.

Parents always keep wondering about the good and bad effects of technology on their kids and to some extent they are also aware of them, but it is nearly impossible to keep our children completely away from gadgets as we are totally surrounded by them. Right from our pockets to the cupboards, there is a technological gadget everywhere that are somewhere helping us in making our lives easier.

But, the major concern arises when it comes to limit the use of technology for our kids, how much exposure of technology or gadgets is not harmful to the children?

First, take a look at the bad effects of technology on our kids that will help you in understanding this problem more precisely.

The Bad of Technology

• Technology is affecting the concentration span of children and reducing it drastically.

• It affects the physical health of children by making them sedentary, it becomes a major reason for child obesity and deficiency of vitamin D in the next generation.

• Not spending enough time outdoors reduces their capacity of fighting with infections and also disturbs their sleep cycle by affecting the production of melatonin hormone in the body.

• Overuse of technology reduces the concentration power of children.

• Gadgets produce a bad effect on children’s eyesight with the emission of harmful blue light.

• Overuse of gadgets suppresses the emotional development of children as it prohibits their interaction with their peers on a personal level.

• It also affects the way kids socialize with others that creates a huge impact on their mental and emotional well-being.

• So, overuse of technology is affecting every aspect of a child’s development either physical or emotional.

• Technology can help parents to keep an eye on the location of their children, but it can also be a big security threat to the children, as anyone can track their position anytime with the use of technology.

All these things indicate that there is a big responsibility on the parents’ of today’s generation to maintain a safe distance between the technology and their children. A balance should be maintained between the use of gadgets and other activities so that they can stay ahead with the use of technology without compromising on their physical and mental growth. So, read out some ways that can help your children staying away from the overuse of technology:

Ways to Avoid Overuse and Protect Children from Technology

• Set the limit on the use of technology gadgets for children each day such as a few hours by keeping in mind the reasonable usage and their daily schedule.

• Also, make them aware of the negative effects of overuse of technology, communicate your concerns and this will also let them understand why setting a boundary is important on the usage of technology.

• Encourage them to take part in physical activities, plan outdoor activities with them to help them bring closer to nature.

• Monitor their use of technology, always keep a check on what things they are using online, as the internet is just like an ocean of all the good and bad things. Try to incorporate healthy habits in them of internet usage, try to keep them focused on things that are useful and beneficial for them instead of just looking for unnecessary things on the internet.

• Talk about the online security threats to your children, make them aware that what they should and what should not share on the internet like the personal information, pictures, phone numbers, and credit card numbers, email addresses etc.

• Tell your children that if someone harasses, bullies or makes them uncomfortable online in any way, then you are there for help, they should talk to their parents, siblings, teacher, or any adult they trust.

• Avoid Using Technology to Calm down Children. We often use media and technology gadgets to pacify the aggression of our child, this practice should be completely prohibited. Instead of making our children the slaves of technology, try to teach them the ways of handling such strong emotions. Come up with interesting activities to manage boredom or breathing exercises to manage calm.

• Say no to TVs for kid’s room, this can help you in both ways, first by cutting down their screen time and secondly, it let you monitor the content they are watching from a more public location.

• Provide options, it’s hard for kids to follow your instructions simply if you say no, provide them with options that apart from not watching the TV or using any electronic device, what else they can do, such as they can play an outdoor game, they can visit the park with friends. Also, let them learn some new skills and proficiencies at the given time.

• Set a Good Example, it is an extremely important point for all the parents if they want their children to follow a good habit of using e-devices. They have to do it first for their children, as children tend to follow what they see instead of the set of rules you ask them to follow. So, show your children that you are using technology only for the limited purposes such as for doing work or for some entertainment. Completely stop using your mobile phones on the dinner table or while spending time with the kids.

How Much Screen Time is allowed for your Baby

Now Comes the most important part, if you are still wondering what amount of screen time is appropriate for your child, you need to check out the latest guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for parents on limiting children’s media usage.

The academy has issued the guidelines for the children of different age-groups such as for infants, toddlers, and kids.

Just check the age group that your child belongs to and the respective screen time that is appropriate for her.

• Children below or 18 months of age – Absolutely no screen time

• From 18 to 24 months of age – Exposure only on the introductory level to a high-quality digital programming in a co-viewing setting.

• From 2 to 5 years of age – Screen time should be limited to one hour in a day, ideally alongside a parent.

• Children of 6 years and above – There is no time limit specified, but limits should be there on time and the type of media consumed by the kids of this age-group.

Conclusion

We need to understand that there are two aspects of everything, good and bad. Where on one hand, overuse of technology is harmful to the physical and emotional health of the children, there, on the other hand, the right usage of technology can help in evolving many new horizons for them. But, to achieve this, everything that is required is the appropriate use of technology.

As children are not much aware of its good and bad effects, it is a big responsibility on the shoulders of their parents to keep a check on the timings and the kind of activities their children are doing online. So, keep utilizing all the good things about technology while eliminating all the scope of it doing any bad to your children. After all, the imagination of your child needs wings, not the sedentary life of e-devices.

Why Self-Driving Cars are Revolutionizing the Industry

source: : https://medium.com/

Self-driving cars are revolutionizing society. Such cars also called driverless cars or smart electric cars, use a variety of technologies to analyze the environment, allowing them to drive without — or with minimal — human input. For example, by using sensors, cameras, and radars to scan the immediate vicinity, a self-driving car will be able to know if there’s a car nearby, a person crossing the street or anything that would otherwise require human consideration for action.

Behind the scenes, driverless cars function like other forms of AI. Take facial recognition, for instance. For it to work properly, engineers need to expose it to millions of faces so that it can ‘learn’ to differentiate between them. The same line of thinking goes behind driverless cars; engineers expose self-driving cars to millions of situations and scenarios so they can ‘understand’ what to do and when. In other words, they teach these smart electric cars how to react appropriately in varying scenarios.

The Current Self-Driving Landscape

We’re in the beginning of the revolution, metaphorically dipping our toes into the driverless car waters. But how did we get here? How did we arrive at a point where cars can (almost) drive without human input? Incrementally. Before we delve into that topic, let’s discuss the different levels of automation, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE):

● Level 0 - No Automation: The full-time performance by the human driver of all aspects of the dynamic driving task, even when enhanced by warning or intervention systems
● Level 1 - Driver Assistance: The driving mode-specific execution by a driver assistance system of either steering or acceleration/deceleration using information about the driving environment and with the expectation that the human driver performs all remaining aspects of the dynamic driving task
● Level 2 - Partial Automation: The driving mode-specific execution by one or more driver assistance systems of both steering and acceleration/deceleration using information about the driving environment and with the expectation that the human driver performs all remaining aspects of the dynamic driving task
● Level 3 - Conditional Automation: The driving mode-specific performance by an Automated Driving System of all aspects of the dynamic driving task with the expectation that the human driver will respond appropriately to a request to intervene
● Level 4 - High Automation: The driving mode-specific performance by an Automated Driving System of all aspects of the dynamic driving task, even if a human driver does not respond appropriately to a request to intervene
● Level 5 - Full Automation: The full-time performance by an Automated Driving System of all aspects of the dynamic driving task under all roadway and environmental conditions that can be managed by a human driver

As of today, Tesla’s ‘autopilot’ systems are in level 2 of automation. Once we get to level 4, people will be able to multitask while they drive, which we’ll get into in a bit. Okay, now we go back to how we got to level 2.

How We’ve Arrived at Level 2 Automation

Level 2 is partial automation characterized by a human driver with machine assistance. What assistance, you ask? Well, we have:
● Blind-spot warnings that use radars or sonar transmitters to detect objects you would encounter if you switched lanes
● Lane-departure warning/assistance that uses cameras to detect lane markings and will either flash a warning light or take full control when the car starts to drift into other lanes
● Cruise control that allows a car to drive at a set speed or the speed of the car directly ahead
● Parking assistance that detects objects and nearby cars for automatic parking (in parallel parking situations)
● Front collision warning/assistance that detects objects in front of the car and will flash a warning light or actually brake the car to avoid a crash

source: http://www.geomarketing.com/

Soon, maybe not within the next five years, but soon we’ll reach level 3, then 4, and finally, level 5.

The Many Advantages of Driverless Cars

We’re already seeing positive impacts of self-driving cars. As a matter of fact, a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that self-driving cars were involved in fewer accidents than their human-controlled counterparts, with 3.2 accidents per million miles, compared to 4.2 for human drivers.

Most of the benefits we’ll gain from driverless cars begin to appear once we reach level 4 automation. For example, productivity will drastically increase. Whereas we currently need to focus on the road while we drive, once we reach level 4 we’ll be able to work while the car drives. A lawyer can go over briefs, a doctor can check up on patients or look over X-rays, students can study, and a lot more.

Autonomous driving also opens the avenue for the elderly or those with disabilities or impairments to enter the road, as they won’t have to actually drive. Roads will also be much safer once the human error is replaced with the less-likely-to-occur computer error. With computers in charge, transportation as a whole will be more efficient because the car can choose the most fuel-efficient route. In a future where all cars are ‘connected’ with each other, they will be able to maneuver and weave through other cars with machine precision as well. As for the environment, with safer cars manufacturers won’t have to equip cars with as much safety equipment, making them lighter and more fuel-efficient, leading to fewer emissions.

Final Thoughts

Driverless cars are poised to make a big impact. While we’d like to think that this impact will be positive, there’s no real way of knowing until we actually get there. As a cautionary tale, imagine being able to nap or partake in other activities while you drive. This may prompt some to take more road trips, or simply drive more because they don’t actually have to ‘drive.’ Whereas we think that self-driving cars will be good for the environment, in this scenario the opposite may actually happen.