Parenting Life Hack: How New Tech is Helping Parents Deal with Anxiety

For many parents, new technology is as much a part of their parenting toolkit as a change of clothes or some snacks. It's hard to imagine guiding our children through life without the help of devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

From organizing family outings to keeping tabs on kids while we're at work or running errands, it can be comforting to know that technology is here when we need it most - easing some of the stress that comes along with parenting in today's high-tech world. Our highly connected world also means we have the ability to connect to lots of different industries for help with upbringing and the different stages of development for our children.

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The ways in which we navigate our children's lives through technology are changing rapidly, and the parent community is no exception. In this day and age, the smartphone is a child's best friend more than ever before.

If you've ever been afflicted with anxiety as a parent, you'll know the feeling all too well. You worry about your kids constantly, whether it's because they're out of your sight for more than a few minutes at a time or because you're trying to make sure they take their vitamins and eat properly.

But there are new ways to help parents deal with this affliction: technology. Thanks to the Internet, which has made it easier than ever before for parents to stay in contact with their children, there are loads of apps and smart devices that make it easier, giving you a huge dose of peace of mind, helping to reduce anxiety.

Since many parents tend to rely on their smartphones for an array of tasks related to their children's lives, it's important to take note of how crucial smartphone apps can be when it comes to keeping our kids secure while out on the town or when they're playing at friends' houses.

There are many benefits to incorporating new technology into your parenting toolkit:

1) Increased reliance on digital communication can improve parent-child relationships and reduce parental anxiety in real time.

2) The ability to instantaneously see and/or speak with your children is a way to decrease the amount of time your children are neglected by you and can fill in the spaces where you feel bad for not spending time with them.

3) The continual availability of everything and anything can provide a sense of comfort for parents who fear they may miss something important.

4) The ability to stay connected makes parents feel less isolated and they can feel more "present" or engaged in their children's lives.

5) New technology allows parents to track, monitor, or follow up on their child's whereabouts, as well as sue them for baby and child development, connecting them with health practitioners like pediatric doctors for when things go wrong.

Why do we like to use technology for parenting?

For parents, technology can reduce anxiety, make it easier to communicate with their children, and help them feel more confident and in control. Technology is also a way for parents to create a connection while fostering independence in their kids.

As for the children, new technology can provide a sense of comfort knowing that they are always within reach of their parents. It helps them feel safer because they know that they will hear from their parents if something is wrong or if there's something important that needs to be said. But for some kids, too much tech can lead to undue stress and pressure as well as feelings of resentment, which can all lead to mental health issues. In order to put the right technology to work for you, it's important to be aware of the potential pitfalls of modern technology orientation.

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In the end, the goal of technology for parenting is to help parents enjoy an authentic relationship with their kids while providing them with the tools they need to be helpful, supportive, and reliable.

Everyone has feelings of anxiety, and technology can help parents deal with it. Kids don't feel the same way towards their parents as they do towards their friends. This is why technology is important in helping parents alleviate that tension between them and their kids. There are so many beneficial apps out there that can help you through the day, some even provide great resources to talk to when you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed. Using apps like Calm, a parenting app with guided breathing exercises and mindfulness meditation for your kids, can reduce your stress levels significantly and improve your relationship with your children.

Calm makes it easy for you to get rid of that anxiety by helping you learn how to control your thoughts through guided breathing and mindfulness meditation. It also offers exercises that build concentration skills that reduce negative thoughts like self-criticism and jealousy. Parents should start looking into the Calm app for themselves since its benefits have been proven to work by those who use it daily. The app has been used by over 2 million people globally and is available on both Apple and Android devices.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are common places for kids to hang out online these days. The same goes for apps like Snapchat and Kik. While these social media platforms can be used to keep up with your family's digital life, they're often unsafe environments for kids who age out of the "kid world" and move on to explore the virtual world.

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SocialSafe allows parents to monitor their children's social media accounts from an online dashboard, ensuring that they don't get into any trouble while making use of these valuable tools. This app is a great way to protect your child's social media accounts and share information with other adults who are in charge of their care.

For those who are going through a difficult time with their kids, the Headspace app is one of the best solutions. This is an app that provides guided meditation to help you manage your emotions and alleviate stress levels and anxiety. It also includes yoga exercises and a variety of guided meditations based on where you are in your life and what you need to hear at that moment. This app can help out any parent who has anxiety about working or dealing with their children in general.

Ever have someone you love tell you to just relax or to "just breathe" and then you can't actually do it? Does this sound a lot like how you felt in the past when someone told you just to calm down or just breathe? Well, now there is an app that helps parents learn how to calm their kids down. Tickle has over 1,000 exercises that are both fun and entertaining while also helping them to relieve stress levels caused by their daily activities as well as the emotional rollercoaster they go through on a daily basis. 

Parents should keep an eye out for these apps to help them control their anxiety in a healthy manner. Being able to have this type of app at your fingertips can alleviate some of the stress you feel from being around your kids, since they will be able to focus instead of worrying so much about them. Their minds will also become more at ease when they use the apps or any other similar one on the market, as each one is set up by experts to help you reduce anxiety levels in the best way possible.

The Challenges

However, these benefits come at a price: New technology is making parenting more complex than ever before, leaving parents feeling overwhelmed and anxious about how to manage it all. According to a study conducted by Youth Digital Research Institute, 82% of parents feel that technology has made parenting more difficult. 

Another study conducted by the Family Online Safety Institute shows that 63% of parents fear their children are distracted by smartphones too much. Subsequently, overuse of gadgets like smartphones and tablets (especially during early ages) can increase the chance of eye strain. Eyeglasses.com has an article outlining causes of digital eye strain in children - take a look on their website. 

(Image Source: Pew Research Centre)

Research shows that this increase in technology is the result of an overall increase in technology use, not a sudden growth in a specific type of technology. The number of parents who use computers at home has doubled over the past decade from 14% to 28%; internet use among parents has increased from 79% to 88%. The number of users who have phone-based entertainment on their mobile phones has nearly doubled (34% to 64%). Meanwhile, television and video game consoles rank as the top two most common pieces of technology used for entertainment (60%).

The biggest challenge facing parents today is the struggle to keep up with technology. Parenting apps, online resources and devices all have different features, meaning that many parents are overwhelmed by the need to use multiple tools at once. In addition, many parents find that using new technology can cause anxiety. For some reason it seems like these technological advancements are creating more problems than they are solving - a problem that has left many of us feeling stressed out and worried about how to deal with it.