Children addicted to smartphones

[Pistachio]

We have two children, aged 6 and 4. My wife lives with them in Thailand and lets them spend several hoursmaybe 5 to 6 a day on the phone. I keep arguing with her that it’s not healthy for the kids, but she keeps giving them the phones, probably just to get some peace and quiet. How is it for you?

[brewsterbudgen]

6 and 4 is pretty young, but yes it seems to be the norm these days, and not just in Thailand.  

 

People thought kids from my generation were addicted to watching TV.  Later generations of kids were addicted to computer games.

 

I wouldn't worry, the current generation will cope.

[BangkokReady]

9 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

People thought kids from my generation were addicted to watching TV.  Later generations of kids were addicted to computer games.

 

I wouldn't worry, the current generation will cope.

 

The thing is, both of the above are very different to phones.  The main difference comes from the fact that they aren't just gaming, they're using social media and these 15 second video clips that change every time you swipe the screen.

 

Also, people have their phones with them all the time.  We never had our TVs or our games consoles sitting on our desks or in our pockets at school.

 

Social media is making kids depressed, while the TikTok style videos are destroying their ability to think and concentrate.

 

It's not even a case of "thinking" there are problems, these are presenting themselves in how children and young people are behaving today.

 

"“TikTok brain” is a phrase used to describe the shifts in attention span, focus, and cognitive function that can result from the frequent use of TikTok and similar apps. The platform’s hallmark—rapid, short-form videos—has a unique way of captivating users, tapping into the brain’s reward system by releasing dopamine, the “feel-good” chemical. This surge of instant gratification can make it challenging to pull away, leading to endless scrolling sessions.

 

But what happens when this constant barrage of quick, engaging content becomes the norm? The consequences, including mental health issues, may be more significant than you think, especially for young people. Over time, this steady diet of bite sized videos can impact brain function and hinder your ability to concentrate on tasks that require sustained attention, leaving you craving the immediate rewards that TikTok so effortlessly provides."

 

https://renucounselling.ca/tiktok-brain/

[BritManToo]

17 hours ago, Pistachio said:

We have two children, aged 6 and 4. My wife lives with them in Thailand and lets them spend several hoursmaybe 5 to 6 a day on the phone. I keep arguing with her that it’s not healthy for the kids, but she keeps giving them the phones, probably just to get some peace and quiet. How is it for you?

My kid has taught himself to read and write English using his phone and tablet.

Just because he wanted to play games online and chat with his team.

At 13 that makes him the top English student in his school.

[scorecard]

10 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

6 and 4 is pretty young, but yes it seems to be the norm these days, and not just in Thailand.  

 

People thought kids from my generation were addicted to watching TV.  Later generations of kids were addicted to computer games.

 

I wouldn't worry, the current generation will cope.

 

My Thai son has concerns about his 3 kids (20, 13, 9) spending so many hours on the phone.

 

Son has tried many times to get his wife to agree they spend way too many hours on the phone but there's a roadblock - his wife.

 

She's well educated, she's a qualified teacher, she takes very good care of my son, all the kids, meals, the house etc., but at the same time she's on her phone all day, and during meals etc.

 

She refuses to discuss the issue. 'Everybody does it, it's normal'.

 

 

[Dogmatix]

8 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

My Thai son has concerns about his 3 kids (20, 13, 9) spending so many hours on the phone.

 

Son has tried many times to get his wife to agree they spend way too many hours on the phone but there's a roadblock - his wife.

 

She's well educated, she's a qualified teacher, she takes very good care of my son, all the kids, meals, the house etc., but at the same time she's on her phone all day, and during meals etc.

 

She refuses to discuss the issue. 

 

 

 

My son's head teacher at an international school recommended families to have phone free meals.  Put them all in a box, if people have problems not looking that them during meal time. It's bad for digestion too.  

 

She also recommended no phones for kids till they are 14.  In this case only the 20 year old should have a phone.  

 

There is plenty of academic research that says children, who spend too much time in the virtual world and not enough time in the real world, are much more likely to get depressed.  Sadly, suicide rates have also risen in this younger generation. 

[brewsterbudgen]

27 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

My Thai son has concerns about his 3 kids (20, 13, 9) spending so many hours on the phone.

 

Son has tried many times to get his wife to agree they spend way too many hours on the phone but there's a roadblock - his wife.

 

She's well educated, she's a qualified teacher, she takes very good care of my son, all the kids, meals, the house etc., but at the same time she's on her phone all day, and during meals etc.

 

She refuses to discuss the issue. 'Everybody does it, it's normal'.

 

 

 

Well to a certain extent, she is right.  It's normal.

[3NUMBAS]

Smombees are everywhere waiting to be run down  

[save the frogs]

- piano lessons, art classes, ballet

 

- sports 

 

- outdoor activities

https://www.howlinggibbon.com/ -- outdoor education center

 

- instead of just trying to get them off devices, invest money in good educational apps to install on the devices so they're not just wasting time. there are good educational apps for the tablets (maybe a tablet is better than a phone). or even invest in a VR headset with some educational apps (very $$$ though), or even some video games (not all) are actually not a waste of time as there is a lot of skill involved in solving the games. 

there are even some art apps where they can learn art on the tablet directly. 

 

- invest in good quality toys that will keep them occupied and engaged, like robotics toys ... again expensive but educational and fun. 

 

or find a reading club at a local children's library if you can .

 

[EVENKEEL]

50 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

 

My son's head teacher at an international school recommended families to have phone free meals.  Put them all in a box, if people have problems not looking that them during meal time. It's bad for digestion too.  

 

She also recommended no phones for kids till they are 14.  In this case only the 20 year old should have a phone.  

 

There is plenty of academic research that says children, who spend too much time in the virtual world and not enough time in the real world, are much more likely to get depressed.  Sadly, suicide rates have also risen in this younger generation. 

I'm not big on rules but no phones while we eat is one rule I enforce. 

 

It is convenient for my kid to have a phone at school. School pick up time changes daily, maybe a forgotten school book and so on.

[brewsterbudgen]

Reminds me of studying Sociology at university in the 1980s.  Moral Panics and Folk Devils (Stanley Cohen).  Smart phones and social media are just the latest 'panics'.

[NorthernRyland]

1 hour ago, BangkokReady said:

The thing is, both of the above are very different to phones.  The main difference comes from the fact that they aren't just gaming, they're using social media and these 15 second video clips that change every time you swipe the screen.

 

 

TikTok is just mind melting. My 45 year old wife is looking at the crap all the time and it's just horrible. I can't be in the same room with her unless she wears headphones otherwise it's random noises changing 15 seconds on and on and on. Imagine being a kid and having your brain develop under these conditions. How do you not come away brain damaged I wonder.

[connda]

18 hours ago, Pistachio said:

We have two children, aged 6 and 4. My wife lives with them in Thailand and lets them spend several hoursmaybe 5 to 6 a day on the phone. I keep arguing with her that it’s not healthy for the kids, but she keeps giving them the phones, probably just to get some peace and quiet. How is it for you?

I don't have rug-rats.  If I did, they would be limited in their phone exposure. Giving kids phones today is the same as putting your kid in front of a TV set was decades ago.  Same same.  It's to get them out of your hair and keep them quiet.

In my day and age, my parents kicked our butts out the door and told me to play.  Then they provide enough things to make it interesting:  balls, bats, bows, arrrows, BB-guns, bikes, wagons, and they also taught us games to play - tag, hide and go seek, hop-scotch, jump-rope, stop-light. Or gave us money to go to the Saturday matinee at the theater if we'd been good kids, or sent us off to the pool. Considering I lived my youth on military bases, we always had access to that sort of stuff.  If parents weren't so freaking lazy, they could teach their kids these things to. Or do stuff together like going fishing. But they don't. Maybe you can't blame them - they spent their youth in front of a TV set.  Now the kids get phones. It's not the kid's fault.  But they'll be the one's suffering in the end.

[NorthernRyland]

1 hour ago, Dogmatix said:

My son's head teacher at an international school recommended families to have phone free meals.  Put them all in a box, if people have problems not looking that them during meal time. It's bad for digestion too.  

 

 

It makes me sad when I see a family out for dinner and they're all looking at their phones and not talking with their parents. It's probably the same at home too. It was bad enough when I was a kid with TV and computers but this is a whole new level. At lease TV you would watch together but now it's a screen per person and everyone is totally disconnected.

[rabang]

Mental health issues have increased significantly since the advent of smartphones. It is interesting that several tech company owners and executives have banned social media from their own children. There is enough academic research to suggest mobile devices pose a problem for developing brains.

[dinsdale]

It's not just kiddies. This is an actual addiction and it's global. 

[dinsdale]

1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Reminds me of studying Sociology at university in the 1980s.  Moral Panics and Folk Devils (Stanley Cohen).  Smart phones and social media are just the latest 'panics'.

It's an addiction and is dumbing down society. Not sure how you link Cohen's book which if I remember correctly (I too studied sociology at uni) was about sub-cultures and societies response to them and how the media reported it. Mobile phone addiction is pervasive globally and is definitely not a sub-culture.  

[Cameroni]

19 hours ago, Pistachio said:

We have two children, aged 6 and 4. My wife lives with them in Thailand and lets them spend several hoursmaybe 5 to 6 a day on the phone. I keep arguing with her that it’s not healthy for the kids, but she keeps giving them the phones, probably just to get some peace and quiet. How is it for you?

 

My ex-wife, who is not Thai, also had no qualms about silencing the kids by giving them a mobile phone or tablet. It's funny isn't it, how women wail and cry how bad they want  children, then when they have children they can't wait to palm them off on Ipad, Iphone, Kindergarten, etc.

[Purdey]

The first time in history that kids have access to their friends wherever they are, and people want to cut off their two way communication. As someone mentioned, it used to be television that was the bête noir of parents. 

I hate seeing SWMBO (She Who Must be Obeyed) on the iPad all day. However, she can call and text her family upcountry every day and her friend in Italy because of WiFi. 

I guess everything has good and bad.

[BangkokReady]

1 minute ago, Purdey said:

The first time in history that kids have access to their friends wherever they are, and people want to cut off their two way communication.

 

With the exception of friends who live far, far away, it would be far better for them to be meeting in real life.  They also really don't need to access their friends 24/7.  Young kids need to spend time with their family as well.  This connection also leaves them vulnerable to bullying and depression.

[dinsdale]

11 minutes ago, Purdey said:

The first time in history that kids have access to their friends wherever they are, and people want to cut off their two way communication. As someone mentioned, it used to be television that was the bête noir of parents. 

I hate seeing SWMBO (She Who Must be Obeyed) on the iPad all day. However, she can call and text her family upcountry every day and her friend in Italy because of WiFi. 

I guess everything has good and bad.

No doubt these gadgets are fantastic but so is cocaine. She who must be obeyed. Nice one. Many on here won't have a clue. Leo McKern. Brilliant Australian actor. Rumpole of the Bailey - brilliant show. 

[cdemundo]

2 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

 

My son's head teacher at an international school recommended families to have phone free meals.  Put them all in a box, if people have problems not looking that them during meal time. It's bad for digestion too.  

 

She also recommended no phones for kids till they are 14.  In this case only the 20 year old should have a phone.  

 

There is plenty of academic research that says children, who spend too much time in the virtual world and not enough time in the real world, are much more likely to get depressed.  Sadly, suicide rates have also risen in this younger generation. 

" head teacher at an international school "

Meaningless as far as knowledge of child raising.

Probably good at fund raising.

[BangkokReady]

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

TikTok is just mind melting. My 45 year old wife is looking at the crap all the time and it's just horrible. I can't be in the same room with her unless she wears headphones otherwise it's random noises changing 15 seconds on and on and on. Imagine being a kid and having your brain develop under these conditions. How do you not come away brain damaged I wonder.

 

You might find this interesting also:

 

 

There are ways that even full length YouTube videos capture people's attention.

 

You might have noticed that a lot of YouTubers edit out pauses even for breaths from their videos.

 

The problem is, of course, that a lot of parents will actively choose to present these kinds of channels to their children, in order to silence them.

[still kicking]

12 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

6 and 4 is pretty young, but yes it seems to be the norm these days, and not just in Thailand.  

 

People thought kids from my generation were addicted to watching TV.  Later generations of kids were addicted to computer games.

 

I wouldn't worry, the current generation will cope.

Till they get bullied and kill themself

[BangkokReady]

30 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

It's an addiction and is dumbing down society. Not sure how you link Cohen's book which if I remember correctly (I too studied sociology at uni) was about sub-cultures and societies response to them and how the media reported it. Mobile phone addiction is pervasive globally and is definitely not a sub-culture.  

 

I think he's confused about the reasons for the concern.  Moral panic means that people are getting worried about something like rumours or news reports that aren't even true, rather than what we are talking about here, which is scientific research and our own personal experience.

 

I think he's viewing it as: "This is something that people are getting worried about, which is the same as moral panics, so it must be a moral panic".

[NorthernRyland]

23 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

You might have noticed that a lot of YouTubers edit out pauses even for breaths from their videos.

 

 

I've seen that before. It's bizarre but your mind assimilates it eventually. Who knows what does that to you.

[NorthernRyland]

30 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

The problem is, of course, that a lot of parents will actively choose to present these kinds of channels to their children, in order to silence them.

 

OK just watched 1 minute of cocomelon. This is like catnip for children. I guess people are trying to hypnotize their kids so they can get some peace.

 

 

[rattlesnake]

13 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

6 and 4 is pretty young, but yes it seems to be the norm these days, and not just in Thailand.  

 

People thought kids from my generation were addicted to watching TV.  Later generations of kids were addicted to computer games.

 

I wouldn't worry, the current generation will cope.

 

Or they will be dumber than the previous generation, which was already dumber than the one before.

[Pistachio]

Why do the Thais do that? They’re really so stupid. I feel completely helpless I can show them dozens of articles that say it harms children, yet they still hand them a phone. Thai mothers are not good mothers; they hand their children over to their grandparents so that they can play on the phone by themselves. It’s crazy.