In light of today’s culture, everyone has a smartphone. Whether it is used for work purposes or to pass the time, one thing is for sure as of late: children are becoming addicted to their phones.
It’s understandable in a sense; the easiest babysitting hack known to modern adults attempting to pacify a fussy baby is to put a phone in front of the child.
But while technology has made our lives easier is many aspects, children are becoming more dependent on it, changing how they think, influencing how they behave and ultimately transforming their life.
In a letter co-signed by New York investment firm JANA Partners and Anne Sheehan, the director of corporate governance at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the investors implore Apple to fund research into what their ubiquitous products might do to a child’s brain. Part of the letter states:
“The average American teenager who uses a smart phone receives her first phone at age 10 and spends over 4.5 hours a day on it (excluding texting and talking). 78% of teens check their phones at least hourly and 50% report feeling ‘addicted’ to their phones. It would defy common sense to argue that this level of usage, by children whose brains are still developing, is not having at least some impact, or that the maker of such a powerful product has no role to play in helping parents to ensure it is being used optimally. It is also no secret that social media sites and applications for which the iPhone and iPad are a primary gateway are usually designed to be as addictive and time-consuming as possible, as many of their original creators have publicly acknowledged.”
Some ways parents can address their child’s smartphone addiction is by communicating strict rules about phone usage and setting limits. It’s also better for parents to come up with other forms of entertainment for their children such as going outside or having playtime with their children. Not only would this shift the child’s attention somewhere else, but it also allows the parent and child to bond.
By: Maytinee Kramer
