Children Who Throw Tantrums on Tablets and Phones “Don’t Learn to Regulate Their Emotions”

New research suggests that handing a child a cell phone or tablet when they’re angry can negatively impact their ability to cope with their emotions.

According to the study, if parents regularly use digital devices to soothe their children, they may have trouble regulating their emotions, which could lead to anger management problems later in life.

Researchers say children learn a lot about self-regulation – their emotional, mental and behavioral responses to certain situations – during the first few years of their lives, and this happens mainly through their relationships with their parents.

Dr Veronika Konok, first author of the study and a researcher at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, said: “Tantrums cannot be cured with digital devices.

“Children need to learn how to deal with their negative emotions on their own.

“They need their parents’ help in the learning process, not the help of a digital device.”

She added: ‘Here we show that if parents regularly offer a child a digital device to calm them down or stop tantrums, the child will not learn to regulate their emotions.

“This leads to more serious problems with emotion regulation, specifically anger management problems, later in life.”

Tantrums cannot be cured by digital devices

Dr. Weronika Konok

Scientists say that in recent years it has become increasingly common to give children digital devices so they can control their reactions to emotions, especially negative ones.

In 2020, researchers assessed parents of more than 300 children between the ages of two and five, then repeated the study a year later.

Parents completed a questionnaire assessing how children and parents use the media.

The findings showed that when parents used technology more often to manage their children’s emotions, children showed poorer ability to cope with anger and frustration a year later.

Children who were given the devices more often when they experienced negative emotions also showed less ability to choose a conscious response rather than an automatic response.

The study, published in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, also found that poorer early anger management skills meant children were more likely to be given digital devices as a management tool.

“It is not surprising that parents are more likely to use digital emotion regulation if their child has difficulty regulating emotions, but our results suggest that this strategy may escalate an existing problem,” Dr. Konok said.

Researchers suggest that health experts could provide information on how parents can help their children deal with emotions without giving them tablets or smartphones.

Senior author Professor Caroline Fitzpatrick, a researcher at Universite de Sherbrooke in Canada, added: “We often see parents using tablets and smartphones to distract their child when they are upset.

“Children are fascinated by digital content, so this is an easy way to stop tantrums, and in the short term it is very effective.”

She added: “If people’s awareness that digital devices are not appropriate tools for treating tantrums increases, this will have a positive impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing.”