Nowhere is this more evident than in the UAE, which has one of the world’s highest rates of smartphone penetration. Children as young as four years old use connected devices on a daily basis. As screens become the new playground, classroom, and social space for an entire generation, families in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the rest of the Emirates must take a serious look at digital parenting, as it is no longer an option in the family toolkit.
The UAE’s Hyper Connected Home Environment
The UAE’s swift 5G rollout, in addition to nearly complete broadband network coverage, has become a reality of today’s home life in the region: hyper-connectivity. TVs, tablets, smart speakers, and game consoles vie for children’s attention before they even leave their beds. Children between 6-15 years old spend an average of 5-6 hours a day online, according to a 2024 survey conducted by the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) — this is already higher than the global average. Digital devices merged all the different roles and responsibilities of a busy, often expatriate-dominated, and disrupted work life into one. For the parents, digital devices have become a digital “help” for child rearing and made parenting so much easier.
Key Points of Parental Concern
The network of modern communications has both advantages and disadvantages. Legitimate concerns about the risks of cyberbullying, predators, and inappropriate content, along with the omnipresent threat of social media-related anxiety, are making the rounds in schools across the UAE. The Arab Youth Center found that almost 40% of youth in the GCC report online harassment. With children accessing social media (often designed for a grown-up audience) through their own accounts, questions of digital space and control become pressing. These concerns are compounded by the myriad of risks to mental health and the startlingly fast increases in sleep disorder and screen addiction among school-aged children, which have forced pediatricians to issue formal recommendations concerning screen time and device usage in the UAE.
Digital Parenting Strategies
UAE families are making use of digital parenting options. Family control apps such as Bark, Family Link, and Qustodio, are popular in the Gulf. These tools allow for monitoring of activity and setting of screen time. The “Protect Children Online” portal from TDRA has resources in Arabic and are culturally appropriate for diverse UAE families. There is a growing popularity for family digital wellness plans which are agreements of device use, content, and time which are digital parenting strategies.
Schools and Government Collaborating
The UAE’s government has realized the need to assist families as they adapt to digital parenting. The Ministry of Education has incorporated digital literacy and responsible internet practices into the national curriculum. Initiatives such as Safer Internet Day UAE, which promote awareness of responsible and safe internet practices, will take place annually in all public and private schools. Workshops have been held for parents in the community, through telecommunications companies in partnership with NGOs, to help UAE families gather information to address the challenge of the digital world.
A shared responsibility
Digital parenting in the UAE is not about restriction; it is for parents to teach their children the opportunities and responsibilities that being connected to the world carries. As digital technology continuously evolves, it is impossible for parents to monitor the world their children will be exposed to, which is why the fastest, most effective way to approach digital parenting that UAE families will grow accustomed to, is to advocate for the values and ethics that their children carry with them to the digital world.
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