What Are Digital Orphans?
Digital orphans are the children of parents who pay more attention to the benefits that technology offers than their own children. They are adults who sacrifice time with their family and attention with their little ones to spend more time surfing the internet, exchanging messages with people on the other side of the world that they only know in a virtual way, playing games, studying or looking for information.
Today’s digital orphans have a home, food, clothing, shoes… they receive medical attention and are taken to school, however, they lack affection and attachment. Your parents, even physically present, may be considered absent.
The families of digital orphans
Family members of digital orphans share common characteristics. Among them we can mention:
- They spend a lot of time on social media
- If your children are old enough to use technology, communication is done several times via message, even if everyone is at home
- They don’t disconnect from the internet even to talk a serious subject with their children
- They prefer to delegate all the tasks they can do with their children to other people : the grandmother, a caregiver, a tutor who helps with homework, etc…
Consequences of being a digital orphan
As you may have noticed, digital orphans are victims of their parents. The fact that they feel ignored, undervalued and generating less attention than a technological apparatus, makes children:
- Develop low self-esteem and lack of self -confidence
- Feeling great demotivation
- Have low academic performance
- Tend to be isolated, have little social contact and close in the bedroom when they are at home
- Prefer silence over dialogue
- feel stress
- Becoming Aggressive or Shy
- Trust strangers, in general, people you meet on the internet
- Having trouble concentrating
- be sad
- Do the same as your parents: give preference to virtual life over real life
How can I not turn my teenager into a digital orphan?
So that your child doesn’t run the risk of being a digital orphan, you must, first of all, analyze if the electronics really matter more than him. If that’s not the case then why jeopardize your relationship?
About this we give you some advice.
- Establish the dialogue when they are at home. Leave the screens aside, tell him to do the same, and sit down to talk about any topic. You can even start talking about your virtual friends or any other topic related to electronics. If you’re both passionate about new technologies, this can be a nice topic to strike up a conversation with.
- Arrange times to be together : meal times, for example. It’s a great time to sit at the table and talk about the day and family issues
- Plan time away from electronic devices even if it’s only a few hours
- Abuse their affection and enjoy their response. If from a young age you haven’t taught the beauty of affection or created a strong attachment to your child, now that your child is bigger it can be a little difficult to generate empathy right away. But it’s never too late. If there’s the desire, there’s the possibility.
- Use the cell phone as a way to communicate with him only when there is no other way.
- The use and abuse of electronic devices can become an addiction. Knowing the dangers to health that are addictions, you need to do everything to change your life and help your child so that he does not also become a dependent
- Share household chores, doing them at the same time, and talk in the meantime to create a bond of fellowship and work.
- Seek mutual affinities and interests that do not involve an electronic device and combine appointments and moments to talk about it and share good moments. It can be a hobby like collecting stamps or coins, developing a taste for art, whether it’s painting, music… Mommy, invite your child to a session of dancing, singing, embroidery, tinkering with wood or fabrics, ask for him teach him to skate, play ball… hobbies are never lacking and there are thousands. Any one of them will serve to take your eyes off a screen, enjoy life and be with your child.
