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Parenting today has become a daily race; faster lives, higher ambitions, double income, and a constant push to fit into the world around us. Somewhere in this fast-paced chase, families have adopted what appears to be an easy solution for parenting children: screens. Phones, TV, and tablets etc have become the most convenient tools to keep kids quiet, occupied, and entertained. But this convenience comes with unintended consequences that most parents do not know about.
“Unlike all other animals, human offspring depend on their parents not just for survival, but to develop the infinite potential of the human mind to venture into higher human endeavours,” says VK Vinod Sreekumar, CEO & Founder, PracticeSuite. “Generational knowledge is passed through parenting. Learning through unreal experiences on screens develops a tender mind of a child unsuitable for real-world experiences”.
A child’s tender mind, as part of his natural development, yearns for adventure, variety, and real moments that help them learn and grow. But when an innocent child spends long hours watching TV or scrolling on a phone, they are actually training their mind through simulation; artificial, special-effect-driven experiences that feel real, but are not. The child is unknowingly being cheated out of real-world parenting. This has given rise to what many call “convenient parenting.” And it comes with harsh truths.
- The Human Mind Cannot Differentiate Between Real and Unreal
Children feel emotions from cartoons, movies, and dreams with the same intensity as real-life events: laughter, fear, sadness, joy. That is why a sad movie scene or a nightmare affects them just like an experience.
This means children get emotionally conditioned through unreal, illusory situations. When confronted with real-life experiences, they struggle because the two do not match. Over time, as they grow older, their ability to adapt to family, society, community, workplaces, and life in general becomes increasingly challenged.
- Screens Train the Mind to Expect Hyper-Stimulation
Kids’ movies and games use loud colours, engaging music, thrill, excitement, suspense, romance, violence, and “happily-ever-after” endings. These artificial experiences can never match the pace of the real world.
“The mind is a pivotal dimension of human existence; it is designed to move, adapt, and build resilience to accommodate the fast-changing world around us.” V K Vinod explains. “But when it is trained on artificial simulation, everything real begins to feel boring.”
As a result, friends, family, and normal life seem dull because a child’s mind is functioning at a level the real world cannot match. This creates behavioural issues such as anger, violence, frustration, tantrums, and disobedience, all are now extremely common.
When lessons learned through simulated experiences keep clashing with real-world outcomes, it is stressful, leading to disorders: depression, lack of focus, and even physical concerns like blood pressure and cholesterol becoming common among children.
- Adolescence: A Crucial Stage Being Lost
Adolescence is the transition from child to adult; a time when brain elasticity changes and a sense of self is formed. But today, adolescents spend their time playing video games, watching meaningless online content, consuming news about crimes and shootings by other kids, and relying on social media to build their identity.
“An adolescent depends more on their peers for validation, identity, and direction. It’s a blind man leading another blind man,” says V K Vinod.
Excessive partying, late-night events, and living in dorms without parental guidance, nothing good comes out of this.
- A Child Can Watch a Screen for Hours but Cannot Work for 10 Minutes
This is the classic ADHD pattern seen everywhere today. Kids can sit quietly with a phone or TV for long periods, but cannot do homework or perform any real task for even ten minutes. Their mind have been conditioned to expect constant stimulation and instant gratification, which does not happen in real life. Therefore, homework appears boring.
- Real Life Seems Boring — Even Relationships
Real life does not come with special effects, dramatic highs, or rapid-paced stories. When children grow up on exaggerated digital experiences, ordinary life feels pale, including relationships, friends, family, love, and marriage.
A simple observation: family dinners today show everyone, including parents, absorbed in their phones. Because the joy of family dinners does not match the simulated special effect experience. Real connections are being replaced by screens.
- Self-Esteem Built on Social Media Validation Is Fragile
Children now depend on likes, comments, and follower counts to measure their worth. Compliments like “You’re gorgeous,” “You’re killing it,” or “You’re the best” are given so easily online. But in real life, you have to do a lot of work to get complimented. Therefore, hard work, diligence, and discipline are not to be found in screen-raised children.
Online friends do not mean anything in the real world. A recent example: an Indian public figure with 5.6 million followers received only 125 votes in an election. This shows how meaningless digital identity is.
- The World Is Superficial, and Children Pay the Price
The world is becoming increasingly phony and superficial. People compliment even when they do not mean it. Online, people can say things they would never dare to say in person because they never have to face the person again.
But for children, even if the experience is virtual, the feelings are real. Negative comments, reduced likes, comparison, and online criticism have pushed many children into emotional breakdowns. Suicides linked to digital distress are on the rise.
The Paradox of Modern Parenting
Parents work hard to give their children a better future. But in doing so, they may unintentionally cause harm to their child’s personality development, the very foundation they are working hard to shape their future.
“This is counterproductive and counterproductive,” V K Vinod concludes. “We don’t realise that our attempt to secure a better life for our children may be quietly hurting them in ways we never imagined, albeit unknowingly and unintentionally.”
V K Vinod says, that he will adds that he will soon share his insights on how parents can find a realistic work–home–parenting balance. Let me be empathetic to parents; it is undeniably hard in the current context, however, most of it is our doing, and is not as much of a problem as it appears to be!
