Caught Between Childhood and Screens: A Parent’s Guide to Phones and Social Media

image

When it comes to parenting, one of the most frequently asked questions is about when is the right time to give your child access to a smart phone, I even had this discussion with a friend of mine but I just laughed after the whole discussion. Back in the days even though things were a bit hard, I rarely saw kids having their personal smartphone, not even a calling phone and one reason was the fact that smartphones were not that cheap, only our parent had access to one and before you can hold it, that meant you took it without them knowing (I used to do that) but all my focus was just on the game aspect or to watch movies because I don't even understand what internet was back then but nowadays, its different and like they use to say, we are in the Jet age but does that mean parents should forget the old ways when it comes to some certain things.

Nowadays having a smartphone had lot of disadvantages especially for a child and most of them want a smart phone for a different reason especially the temptation of being left out, most want to belong, my classmate or friend have a phone and I don't have, why is my case different? don't you love me? This kind of reasoning are burdensome, it still affects some adult till now because they want to feel among especially those Iphone users. Some parents will happy get phones for their children and just neglect the whole risk behind it. Gone are those days when social media was mainly for good purpose, morals and all but nowadays the internet is full of negative teachings, fake life and all, educational content have less trend unlike negative things, nowadays children now copy influencer's lifestyle, they want to own the latest phones, even people not up to 18 want the latest cars, want to have houses and land without even a good legal work at hand, they follow trend and engage in crimes

One of the risk behind giving a child a phone without proper parental guidance is the addiction that follows, children tend to stay glued to this gadget till they fall asleep and this keep them distracted from many things they need to do, some even get addicted, even to read books for hours is no more possible, just 1 page and they are already sleeping but can be online for hours yet parent will be complaining their children are falling behind but they neglect the source of the issue is coming from. The worst part is how they get exposed to inappropriate, uneducative content and these things can darken their mind and make things worse for them, imagine them being expose to sex scandals even things they can't boldly discuss with their parent. I can really pick an age yet because I will have to sit my future wife down and we will discuss and reason things together but if they will be getting a device at early age, it will be strictly regulated and they will have a certain time schedule for device usage because they will be occupied with other stuff.