#012 - Why Your Children Are Addicted to Digital Apps 🧠💡
In this episode of Neuroeducation with Angie Dee, the focus is on educational apps that are beneficial for children without triggering addictive responses. Angie discusses the importance of choosing apps that do not lead to excessive adrenaline and cortisol responses in kids. She emphasizes the need for apps that promote learning without overstimulating the brain with dopamine hits. Angie warns against apps that encourage fast-paced activities like Temple Run, highlighting the potential negative impact on children's well-being. Tune in to learn about selecting apps that support healthy screen time habits and enhance learning experiences for children.
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Educational Apps
00:02:54 - Timestable Rockstar: A Math App for Growth Mindset
00:05:02 - Crossword Journey Word Games: Problem Solving and Phonics
00:06:05 - Duolingo: Learning Languages and More
00:07:09 - Pottery.lv: Creative and Calming Art App
00:08:34 - Importance of Moderation in Screen Time
00:09:48 - Encouraging Real-World Activities for Children
Transcript
If we don't want our children to react like
Speaker:a heroin addict when they've got to get off screen time, we've got
Speaker:to think about what are some amazing apps that we have that
Speaker:are out there that are not going to create this crazy adrenaline
Speaker:cortisol response. Welcome to Neuroeducation, where
Speaker:we're exploring the neuroscience of how to switch on the brain to
Speaker:supercharge learning. I'll be sharing with you innovative teaching techniques,
Speaker:effective parenting strategies, and educational advocacy. I'm
Speaker:your host, Angie Dee. Together, let's revolutionize children's
Speaker:learning. Welcome to
Speaker:Newer Education with Angie Dee. Thanks for
Speaker:tuning in. Today we're going to talk about educational
Speaker:apps that make you go snap. Now we all know
Speaker:that apps and
Speaker:computer, screen time, iPad time, whatever it
Speaker:may be, screen time can be absolutely
Speaker:fabulous. A, to give yourself a break as
Speaker:a parent or to implement in school teaching
Speaker:that can obviously help children learn. There are
Speaker:lots of apps that are absolutely fantastic and
Speaker:there are lots of apps that I would say are a big no
Speaker:no no. What is the reason for this? The reason for
Speaker:this is that some computer games
Speaker:that we have in this day and age, even if they might be
Speaker:educational, they wire
Speaker:our kids for a dopamine hit and The
Speaker:best way to navigate this is I would say a
Speaker:computer game that is making children do
Speaker:something incredibly fast. I don't know if you know
Speaker:Temple Run but they're like running they've got to run and they've got to jump and
Speaker: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
Speaker:you're doing something like that you can imagine what's going on inside
Speaker:the child's brain. the kind of adrenaline cortisol
Speaker:pumping through their veins, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then when you say, okay,
Speaker:time to hop off, what's going to happen? Oh, they're
Speaker:going to crack. Why? Because it's literally like they're on
Speaker:crack. These kinds of games have been shown to be as
Speaker:addictive as drugs. So if We
Speaker:don't want our children to react like a heroin addict
Speaker:when they've got to get off screen time. You've got to think about what
Speaker:are some amazing apps that we have that are out there that
Speaker:are not going to create this crazy adrenaline cortisol response.
Speaker:So today I have four apps for you that I
Speaker:highly recommend and there are more if you have more ideas message
Speaker:me or comment down below with some great app
Speaker:ideas if you have other suggestions. But here are
Speaker:my four. Number one, a maths app, Timestable
Speaker:Rockstar. Why I love Timestable Rockstar is
Speaker:everybody has their own little character as they get more points
Speaker:and do more times tables they get to play
Speaker:their little rock star add some cute little things to their outfits but
Speaker:the children can see how they improve with
Speaker:speed of how they write, how
Speaker:fast they answer the questions of their rounds and
Speaker:also they see how many they get incorrect. And
Speaker:I feel like this fits into a growth mindset. We know
Speaker:that if children have a fixed mindset they think oh I'm
Speaker:terrible at that and I'm never going to get better and that's just
Speaker:how it's going to be forever. But with a growth mindset,
Speaker:children see with more effort, I see that I can
Speaker:improve. And I think Timestable Rockstar does this in
Speaker:both of those two ways. A, the children see their
Speaker:response time and how they're answering response time can get
Speaker:faster. And obviously as they get more and
Speaker:more correct out of each round. My daughter
Speaker:personally didn't love maths. And
Speaker:after the school assigned Time Sable Rockstar as
Speaker:some homework, she decided to start doing
Speaker:five minutes a day. And I was amazed to
Speaker:see that when she came to me, she was so happy
Speaker:to say, mom, look, I've improved. I'm like a second
Speaker:faster and look at this. So she could see that she was improving.
Speaker:Before this, her attitude towards maths was, You
Speaker:know, my dad's a math teacher. Both of my boys love
Speaker:maths. My son Santiago was doing polynomial algebraic
Speaker:division in grade six, loves it. My
Speaker:daughter didn't, but I
Speaker:say times table rock stars flip that around.
Speaker:And it really showed her that with greater effort and
Speaker:more time she could improve. So that's
Speaker:my number one app. suggestion. Number two
Speaker:is a simple game. It's called crossword journey
Speaker:word games. And you get to create,
Speaker:you have usually some words in a circle, and
Speaker:you can create different words by touching different
Speaker:letters. But it's a fantastic game for problem solving
Speaker:different word patterns. And if you
Speaker:have something like phonograms or phonics that you're trying to
Speaker:teach your children, this is a great way to build that because
Speaker:they're trying to find all the words that, oh, there's an O and a U and
Speaker:an S and a T and it's, oh, it's shh. S,
Speaker:H, O, U, O, U, T, and then, okay, this is shout,
Speaker:and then maybe this is some other word that has the
Speaker:same spelling pattern, shout, and out. So there's C, that O,
Speaker:U, makes the ow sound every time.
Speaker:And it really builds that in through repetition in a fun way. So
Speaker:that's my number two go-to app. Number three.
Speaker:is Duolingo. Now, Duolingo not
Speaker:only is for learning languages, but they have Duolingo for maths, Duolingo
Speaker:for even learning your letters and learning your words.
Speaker:And what I love about Duolingo is they try to
Speaker:do a variety of ways. If you take
Speaker:learning languages for an example, They will
Speaker:get you to say it. They will get you to write it.
Speaker:They'll get you to listen to it and then respond to it. And
Speaker:they'll get you to match it. They're trying to do it in a variety of
Speaker:different ways that really helps children learn. I've
Speaker:seen a huge amount of children playing Duolingo
Speaker:and improving their second or third language skills with
Speaker:Duolingo. And I've also seen children using Duolingo
Speaker:for English and for maths. and I think it's
Speaker:a fantastic app that has a variety of
Speaker:subjects that you can learn from and they do it in a really good
Speaker:way. The last one is a nice
Speaker:art app. Now Because there are
Speaker:so many computer games and there are so many apps
Speaker:that are just making our children's brains go
Speaker:wild, whether they're shooting some fictional person
Speaker:or when they're trying to escape something that's chasing
Speaker:after them. It's nice to have an app that
Speaker:has a creative aspect, but it's also more calming. And
Speaker:I would say the next app is just that. It's
Speaker:called Pottery. dot lv and
Speaker:what it allows you to do is to take
Speaker:a piece of clay and move the clay with your
Speaker:fingers. So if you have an ipad even if you have the phone you're moving
Speaker:the clay you're expanding the clay and with your fingers
Speaker:you're gently creating this beautiful piece of pottery which
Speaker:you then can sell for a certain amount of
Speaker:money, but you can decorate it, you can paint it, you can add different
Speaker:patterns. So it might be an African little pattern
Speaker:you put around your pottery, or it could be a little Asian pattern or
Speaker:a Greek pattern, whatever it may be, but children get
Speaker:to have this creative experience. obviously
Speaker:will never beat the real world, but it's a beautiful side
Speaker:kind of creative app that allows them
Speaker:to do something that calms them down. I would
Speaker:say one of the most important things to think about
Speaker:when it comes to screen time in your child is
Speaker:everything in moderation. There are some children,
Speaker:unfortunately, the statistics in Australia, that are
Speaker:having four to five hours of screen time a day. And when it
Speaker:goes to high school, the stats are insane. The
Speaker:stats in high school in Australia are that some children are on
Speaker:screen times for over seven hours a day, if
Speaker:not more. When we think about that, we have to
Speaker:ask ourselves, is that healthy? Is
Speaker:that healthy for our children? Is it healthy for their emotions?
Speaker:Is that healthy for their development? And I would have to
Speaker:say, with many psychologists behind
Speaker:me, that the resounding answer is no. So
Speaker:everything in moderation. I average
Speaker:my children on maybe maximum of one hour screen time a
Speaker:day. Once the one hour's up, it's capped. And there are some days we don't
Speaker:have screen time because we're having outdoor days. And for
Speaker:some children, I know screen time is hard.
Speaker:It's hard to get children off. And when children are hitting
Speaker:the roof and screaming when they get off, some parents think, oh,
Speaker:it's just easy to leave them on it. Forget about it. We're going to leave them there.
Speaker:However, The sad thing is this
Speaker:is not setting them up for success in life. It's not setting them up for
Speaker:holistic education in terms of being a well-rounded individual
Speaker:emotionally, physically, mentally. And one of my best tips
Speaker:for getting kids off screen and into the real world in a positive way
Speaker:is doing positive things with your children. outside of
Speaker:the home. Whether that's let's go for a nightly walk
Speaker:around the block, let's go for a walk along the beach if you have
Speaker:an esplanade near your home or something nice, let's go and bounce the
Speaker:basketball for half an hour or play tennis or
Speaker:whatever it is. If you're doing something fun and engaging with
Speaker:your child, which often they want to do, is engaged
Speaker:with you in a positive way then you don't have to be trying
Speaker:to limit their screen time and having fights with them. It's easier to
Speaker:have a short amount of screen time say okay well we've had an hour or
Speaker:half an hour for younger children it might be even much smaller
Speaker:time 20 minutes or once a week but If
Speaker:you make life more exciting than a screen,
Speaker:it's easy for children to get off screen time. So that's
Speaker:when we want to get them off the screen and into the real
Speaker:world. But for those short times when you do want to
Speaker:give them a bit of screen time and you want it to be healthy screen time, I hope these
Speaker:four apps help. And thank you so much for tuning in again
Speaker:to Neuroeducation with Angie Dee. do
Speaker:us a big favor and jump on to Apple
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Speaker:five star review. And also, if
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