#012 - Why Your Children Are Addicted to Digital Apps 🧠💡

If we don't want our children to react like a heroin addict when they've got to get off screen time, we've got to think about what are some amazing apps that we have that are out there that are not going to create this crazy adrenaline cortisol response. Welcome to Neuroeducation, where we're exploring the neuroscience of how to switch on the brain to supercharge learning. I'll be sharing with you innovative teaching techniques, effective parenting strategies, and educational advocacy. I'm

your host, Angie Dee. Together, let's revolutionize children's learning. Welcome to Newer Education with Angie Dee. Thanks for tuning in. Today we're going to talk about educational apps that make you go snap. Now we all know that apps and computer, screen time, iPad time, whatever it may be, screen time can be absolutely fabulous. A, to give yourself a break as a parent or to implement in school teaching

that can obviously help children learn. There are lots of apps that are absolutely fantastic and there are lots of apps that I would say are a big no no no. What is the reason for this? The reason for this is that some computer games that we have in this day and age, even if they might be educational, they wire our kids for a dopamine hit and The best way to navigate this is I would say a computer game that is making children do

something incredibly fast. I don't know if you know Temple Run but they're like running they've got to run and they've got to jump and they've got to run they've got to jump and oh my god they're gonna die and they're gonna run and they're gonna jump. If you're doing something like that you can imagine what's going on inside the child's brain. the kind of adrenaline cortisol pumping through their veins, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then when you say, okay,

time to hop off, what's going to happen? Oh, they're going to crack. Why? Because it's literally like they're on crack. These kinds of games have been shown to be as addictive as drugs. So if We don't want our children to react like a heroin addict when they've got to get off screen time. You've got to think about what are some amazing apps that we have that are out there that are not going to create this crazy adrenaline cortisol response.

So today I have four apps for you that I highly recommend and there are more if you have more ideas message me or comment down below with some great app ideas if you have other suggestions. But here are my four. Number one, a maths app, Timestable

Rockstar. Why I love Timestable Rockstar is everybody has their own little character as they get more points and do more times tables they get to play their little rock star add some cute little things to their outfits but the children can see how they improve with speed of how they write, how fast they answer the questions of their rounds and also they see how many they get incorrect. And

I feel like this fits into a growth mindset. We know that if children have a fixed mindset they think oh I'm terrible at that and I'm never going to get better and that's just how it's going to be forever. But with a growth mindset, children see with more effort, I see that I can improve. And I think Timestable Rockstar does this in both of those two ways. A, the children see their response time and how they're answering response time can get faster. And obviously as they get more and

more correct out of each round. My daughter personally didn't love maths. And after the school assigned Time Sable Rockstar as some homework, she decided to start doing five minutes a day. And I was amazed to see that when she came to me, she was so happy to say, mom, look, I've improved. I'm like a second faster and look at this. So she could see that she was improving. Before this, her attitude towards maths was, You know, my dad's a math teacher. Both of my boys love

maths. My son Santiago was doing polynomial algebraic division in grade six, loves it. My daughter didn't, but I say times table rock stars flip that around. And it really showed her that with greater effort and more time she could improve. So that's my number one app. suggestion. Number two is a simple game. It's called crossword journey

word games. And you get to create, you have usually some words in a circle, and you can create different words by touching different letters. But it's a fantastic game for problem solving different word patterns. And if you have something like phonograms or phonics that you're trying to teach your children, this is a great way to build that because they're trying to find all the words that, oh, there's an O and a U and

an S and a T and it's, oh, it's shh. S, H, O, U, O, U, T, and then, okay, this is shout, and then maybe this is some other word that has the same spelling pattern, shout, and out. So there's C, that O, U, makes the ow sound every time. And it really builds that in through repetition in a fun way. So that's my number two go-to app. Number three. is Duolingo. Now, Duolingo not

only is for learning languages, but they have Duolingo for maths, Duolingo for even learning your letters and learning your words. And what I love about Duolingo is they try to do a variety of ways. If you take learning languages for an example, They will get you to say it. They will get you to write it. They'll get you to listen to it and then respond to it. And they'll get you to match it. They're trying to do it in a variety of

different ways that really helps children learn. I've seen a huge amount of children playing Duolingo and improving their second or third language skills with Duolingo. And I've also seen children using Duolingo for English and for maths. and I think it's a fantastic app that has a variety of subjects that you can learn from and they do it in a really good way. The last one is a nice art app. Now Because there are so many computer games and there are so many apps

that are just making our children's brains go wild, whether they're shooting some fictional person or when they're trying to escape something that's chasing after them. It's nice to have an app that has a creative aspect, but it's also more calming. And I would say the next app is just that. It's called Pottery. dot lv and what it allows you to do is to take a piece of clay and move the clay with your

fingers. So if you have an ipad even if you have the phone you're moving the clay you're expanding the clay and with your fingers you're gently creating this beautiful piece of pottery which you then can sell for a certain amount of money, but you can decorate it, you can paint it, you can add different patterns. So it might be an African little pattern you put around your pottery, or it could be a little Asian pattern or a Greek pattern, whatever it may be, but children get

to have this creative experience. obviously will never beat the real world, but it's a beautiful side kind of creative app that allows them to do something that calms them down. I would say one of the most important things to think about when it comes to screen time in your child is

everything in moderation. There are some children, unfortunately, the statistics in Australia, that are having four to five hours of screen time a day. And when it goes to high school, the stats are insane. The stats in high school in Australia are that some children are on screen times for over seven hours a day, if not more. When we think about that, we have to ask ourselves, is that healthy? Is that healthy for our children? Is it healthy for their emotions?

Is that healthy for their development? And I would have to say, with many psychologists behind me, that the resounding answer is no. So everything in moderation. I average my children on maybe maximum of one hour screen time a day. Once the one hour's up, it's capped. And there are some days we don't have screen time because we're having outdoor days. And for some children, I know screen time is hard.

It's hard to get children off. And when children are hitting the roof and screaming when they get off, some parents think, oh, it's just easy to leave them on it. Forget about it. We're going to leave them there.

However, The sad thing is this is not setting them up for success in life. It's not setting them up for holistic education in terms of being a well-rounded individual emotionally, physically, mentally. And one of my best tips for getting kids off screen and into the real world in a positive way is doing positive things with your children. outside of

the home. Whether that's let's go for a nightly walk around the block, let's go for a walk along the beach if you have an esplanade near your home or something nice, let's go and bounce the basketball for half an hour or play tennis or whatever it is. If you're doing something fun and engaging with your child, which often they want to do, is engaged with you in a positive way then you don't have to be trying

to limit their screen time and having fights with them. It's easier to have a short amount of screen time say okay well we've had an hour or half an hour for younger children it might be even much smaller time 20 minutes or once a week but If you make life more exciting than a screen, it's easy for children to get off screen time. So that's when we want to get them off the screen and into the real

world. But for those short times when you do want to give them a bit of screen time and you want it to be healthy screen time, I hope these four apps help. And thank you so much for tuning in again to Neuroeducation with Angie Dee. do us a big favor and jump on to Apple Podcasts or Spotify to give us a five star review. And also, if you can subscribe on YouTube channel, it makes such a big difference. Thanks