The growing influence of technology on parenting

As he cried painfully, Miriam, who is a first-time mom, did not know what to do.

She took the baby and tilted his head downwards. As tears filled her eyes, she kept on asking the husband, Peter Wangeci to call the doctor.

Instead, Peter was frantically scrolling through his android phone.

‘How to save a choking baby’, Peter googled to find all the solutions on the internet.

Immediately he took the baby from Miriam and put the baby by his stomach on his lap as he gently stroked Baby Klark’s back.

After a few minutes, the baby who was barely three-months-old was saved and he stopped crying.

A relieved Miriam stopped crying. She took her baby, stroked him as she held him tight.

But then, how important is technology to new parents who hear all sorts of stories from other parents?

New moms and dads have the incredible gift and curse of too much information.

They use apps to track their baby’s development and worry when they seem slightly off.

Most new parents feel pressure, even if it’s self-imposed, to keep up with other moms and too often focus on what everyone else seems to be doing right.

Well, as most people would assume, motherhood is not as easy at it seems.

In most cases, new mothers encounter unpleasant surprises from their newborns.

STATISTICS

According to the gender gap report 2019, most women use their mobile phones most times weekly as compared to men.

This was put at 69 per cent for women and 61 per cent for men.

The report noted that respondents may have engaged in some use cases on a phone other than their own.

The report noted that 79 per cent of the men were aware of mobile internet, unlike 62 per cent women.

The Kenya Integrated Household Budget survey released in April indicates that at least 30 per cent of mobile users in Kenya own more than one SIM card, translating to an average of 1.3 SIM cards per subscriber.

There were 46.6 million active mobile subscribers between July and September, a 2.4 per cent increase compared to the April – June period.

COMPLAINTS

Everyone complains that technology has made our lives busier, louder, and less engaged.

Parents who have had more adult children also complain that their kids are addicted to their screens.

But what about first-time moms who have never had a chance to babysit a child? Where do they go to?

The answer is the internet.

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