Popular trick used by parents to calm children who throw tantrums is actually making their behavior worse, scientists warn

GIVING children phones or iPads to calm a tantrum – like using a “digital dummy” – makes their behavior worse, scientists have warned.

They say the common tactic prevents children from learning to control their emotions, leading to more anger and other “serious emotional regulation problems.”

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Of the 265 children under five monitored in one study, those who were soothed with digital devices had worse emotional control a year later.

They were more prone to angry outbursts and struggled to regulate their feelings, the researchers said.

Ofcom figures show that almost 90 per cent of UK three- to four-year-olds use the internet regularly, mainly to watch videos.

A quarter of children even have their own smartphone.

Study author Veronika Konok, from Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, said: “Tantrums cannot be cured by digital devices.

“Children need to learn to manage their negative emotions on their own.

“We have shown that if parents regularly offer their children a digital device to calm them down or stop a tantrum, the child will not learn.

“This leads to more severe emotional regulation problems, specifically anger management problems, later in life.

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

The study supports the experience of teachers who say behavior in schools is getting worse, especially since Covid lockdowns.

The Union NASUWT said last year: “Concerns about the impact of violent and abusive student behavior have been raised by a significant and growing proportion of members.”

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, questioned parents of children around the age of three in 2020 and again a year later.

It said the results were “consistent and strong in one direction,” with more frequent device use linked to anger, frustration and lower self-control.