I don't blame kids who become addicted to smartphones at a very early age because it isn't really their fault. A lot of parents today use smartphones to distract or comfort their children, all in the name of being busy or the kids taking too much of their time.
Understandably, some kids can be really disturbing, but helping them get obsessed with smartphones isn't the way forward. I find it surprising when parents say the only way to stop kids from disturbing is by giving them phones to play with.
Real-Life Consequences.
I witnessed a scene where a little kid accidentally smashed a Samsung phone screen, and the mother was beating the boy. If I had my way, the woman should be punished severely because if she hadn't made the child obsessed with smartphones, such wouldn't have happened. My neighbor also got a smartphone for her two-year-old, and once she returns from school, that's the only thing she wants to play with. Doing assignments is a problem, and I always hear the woman scream, trying to get the girl to do things.
As annoying as it might look, these kids do not have any fault. We (the parents) are the problem, but not everyone will admit it. A few decades ago, when we didn't have smartphones, our parents had their ways of keeping us busy. Back then, we played board games, outdoor games, learned spelling, played with numbers, and these things did wonders for us. Some kids learned cooking and skills that turned out to be very beneficial to them, but it's the other way around today.
A lot of families now have the habit of not communicating properly except through the use of social media. Every member including the parents hardly communicate with each other, they prefer playing on their phones ignoring family time and the kids grow up like that. They end up as bad parents in terms of communicating with their future families.
I have a 12-year-old sibling who does not have a phone, and many times he has tried convincing me just because his mates already have smartphones. Not having his own phone doesn't mean he doesn't have access to one, because I know the importance of smartphones for kids who use it for learning purposes. Whenever he needs it, I do not hesitate to give him my small Android phone.
There are times I give it to him to play Scrabble or football games, but that's it; he doesn't have that feeling of owning a phone, which would start making him misbehave or get distracted. Most times, we do gardening together. He can take care of fishes and even my birds when I am not around, and I have my ways of compensating him.
I do not condemn kids using smartphones because there are those who were inspired to become tech gurus even at their teenage years. It reminds me of my stepsister who runs a kid YouTube account where she shares school and family content under the supervision of her mom, but these cases are rare. Majority of these kids only get exposed to the wrong use of smartphones, and the distraction it causes is too much for them to handle.
A Call for Better Parenting
It is a simple understanding that if grown-ups can be addicted to smartphones, the kids aren't spared, and as parents, we have lots of work to do. In my opinion, until a kid is done with his or her secondary school education, they don't deserve to own a smartphone. They can use the computer, we can allow them use our smartphones for games or studies, but it's not theirs. There are days when we will deprive them of it despite begging, but there must be something else we are engaging in at their free time.
I know there are parents who are good at supervising their kids, which is good. That way, you're in control of your child's smartphone, but let's not deceive ourselves; supervising kids' activities on smartphones is almost impossible today. Since the existence of smartphones, we've been having smart kids too. They easily outsmart their parents, and they even know more than parents know.
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