For God’s Sake, Don’t Do This to Your Kids
It isn’t worth it.
“Don’t you think it’s bad for your kid?” I asked him directly.
He laughed a little and said, “If I don’t give him, he starts crying aloud. And there’s no way. But the good thing is he learns very quickly. He’s just a 2-year-old boy but knows more than I know.”
The man I met last week in a tea stall was my friend’s friend and he was talking about his little son over a cup of tea. He was proudly describing how his toddler uses his and his wife’s smartphones better than themselves.
“My little one can unlock the phone and open YouTube in seconds,” the man continued. “He can do anything from making calls to browsing the internet. He is so smart even in this early stage.”
Most parents I know love to take credit for their kids’ association with smartphones. The younger the kids are, the more proud the parents feel.
They consider their toddler’s ability to use smartphones as a sign of their intelligence and smartness.
Some parents also use smartphones as a tool to keep their kids busy so that they can do their work uninterruptedly. Many moms use phones to distract them while feeding.
Now, let’s come to the point: Is it a healthy practice to continue? Should you give your toddler access to smartphones just because they annoy you with their endless questions or cry for attention?
A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2020 found that increased screen time on smartphones was responsible for poorer sleep quality in infants and toddlers.
Another study titled “Early life exposure to screen media and communication disorders” by Madigan et al. found that children who were exposed to screen media (including smartphones, TV, etc.) at an early age were at a higher risk of communication disorders.
Not only that but too much of smartphones can also cause expressive language delay in your kids, according to a 2017 study published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
There are some obvious problems as well that you can witness in your kids exposed to long screen time. They might have chronic neck and back pain, show signs of anxiety and depression, etc.
Too much screen time can also lead to obesity in children. Because a phone-addicted kid hardly wants to go outside and play.
But you don’t care, do you?
All you want is to take pride in saying your colleagues or friends that your cutie pie can browse YouTube on his own. You smile, feel proud and consider your kid’s phone addiction as a symbol of his smartness and intelligence.
What an irony!!!
A 2020 report by Common Sense Media found that 39% of children in the US aged 0–8 years use a smartphone. And more than half of the kids have their own smartphones by the age of 11.
It’s obvious because when parents see that their kids are busy with their smartphones all the time, they prefer to buy them their own so that the parents can live peacefully.
Thus the smartphone act as a wall between parents and kids.
Slowly, your kids dive into a different world that is quite unknown to you. He doesn’t sleep well, study properly, or eat on time. As a result, he does badly in exams too.
When you have the report card in hand, now you start complaining about your kid's phone addiction which was actually initiated by you.
What a shame!!
“You shouldn't give the phone to your kids. Because it can hurt your kid’s eyes and brain,” I said to that man. “It also has negative effects on your kid’s overall growth.”
The man didn't seem to buy my words because his eyes were still full of pride at what his 2-year-old can do with his smartphone.
My friend, who was sitting beside me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Today’s kids are so advanced. They are not like us. We didn’t find any phones until we reached our twenties. But now, the first thing a newborn sees is a smartphone pointed at him/her taking pictures. This is an entirely different world.”
“Yes — a different world indeed where dads take pride in ruining their kid’s life,” I murmured with a sigh.
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