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Children As Young As 13 Attending 'Smartphone Rehab' As Concerns Grow Over Screen Time (independent.co.uk)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Independent: Children refusing to put down their phones is a common flashpoint in many homes, with a third of British children aged 12 to 15 admitting they do not have a good balance between screen time and other activities. But in the U.S., the problem has become so severe for some families that children as young as 13 are being treated for digital technology addiction. One "smartphone rehab" center near Seattle has started offering residential "intensive recovery programs" for teenagers who have trouble controlling their use of electronic devices. The Restart Life Center says parents have been asking it to offer courses of treatment to their children for more than eight years. Hilarie Cash, the Center's founder, told Sky News smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices can be so stimulating and entertaining that they "override all those natural instincts that children actually have for movement and exploration and social interaction."
Just for fun, since I haven't seen a first post, or done one in a loooong time.
Sounds like their parents aren't parents, they are just the tallest people in the room.
If they think it's bad at 12-15, just wait until that endless stream of messages and emails is coming from management outside of normal work hours, and they'll be looking for another job if they don't answer it.
There's some very vested interest in keeping us hooked on these things.
When i first got my NES console I couldn't let go of that controller.
Back in my day this was applied by being sent to the corner, with the outside of the palm to the cheeks or with a belt to the behind. Rarely needed more than single application to be fully recovered. Parents these days are soft
It was called Summer Camp.
That was back when the only electrical devices allowed at camp were flashlights and cameras.
What do they try to do, pray the addiction away?
At this point it's just a bunch of charlatans with pieces of paper fooling people into thinking they're qualified to treat a made-up illness because Timmy won't take out the garbage when his mom asks him to.
The problem is that the initial effort needed to engage in the internet is often far lower than the effort required to engage in non-internet interaction, not unlike certain native populations being exposed to a processed carbohydrate-rich diet.
I have a bit of internet addiction myself, which I noticed when I was an undergrad. After moving on my own, I decided not to get the internet at home or on my phone. I noticed a vast improvement in my life, and I fear the increasingly richer content and easier access will turn us all into zombies one day.
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Really, if you don't want children using smartphones so often, then find something where the non-technology is better than technology.
This may be rather difficult nowadays, but is still possible.
Yeah well you can only masturbate so many times before your junk goes numb.
You should suggest intercourse instead.
Also, SCP-504.
My own daughter got confused over this for a short time in college. A bunch of preppies who had no choice but to invent their worries convinced her that she didn't simply enjoy hockey, she was suffering from gender dysphoria and needed to understand her body was telling her she wanted to be a man.
Thankfully march break came along before they broke her...
Uh yeah.. you can put it down when I say so or ir goes bye bye. There is no more to this story.
This behavior really hasn't changed since I was a child. My Dad bitched about how much TV I watched, or how much time I spent outside, or this thing or the other thing that was my passion at the time. Too much sports ( Expensive ) Not enough sports ( anti-social ) This tired old argument and the argument for drugging children into submission boils down to to the need for a false sense of control when parents feel out of control of their own lives or when money is tight.
They need rehab from the Ritalin, Xanax and other psychotropic medication ( Drugs ). As a parent if I think the child has had too much 'device time' I will take it away. If they want it back they have to have their chores done. It works pretty well.
Additionally, don't fight the desire your child has, it may be the passion that fuels his income when they are adults. Ever have that conversation with your child "What do you want to do when you grow up?" They are showing you. If you tell them that's not viable because all you see is the money you spend on it, you fail to see the money that they could be making from it. Instead as a society their desires are beaten from them and can only answer when asked what they plan on doing with their lives: "I don't know" ( Because I was told the thing I love is worthless because it cost you money )
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
Before 'Screen Time' became a thing with smart phones, it existed with The Internet, Game Consoles, and TV. Trying to arbitrarily reduce screen time is not really solving the right problem.
When this kind of issue starts to cause actual problems, you do not want to focus on minimizing screen time; You want to focus on maximizing activities that have either a social component, or that carries other benefits that contribute to general success in life.
Teens between 13 and 15 years old have a combination of a maximum amount of free time to pursue whatever interests they may have combined with minimal responsibilities. But when there is a lack of opportunity to pursue anything that can both engage their attention and benefit them in any meaningful way, there is no shortage of activities that can engage attention and provide nothing in return.
END COMMUNICATION
wtf is wrong with this world?
...Is all of these new things they're doing. Back in my day we did the current thing, and we were happy and well-adjusted. Sure, our parents believed the current thing to be bad for us, and that the old thing was far superior to the current thing, but we knew the current thing was just harmless fun, plus the old thing seemed boring and our parents obsession with it really highlighted how unhappy and poorly-adjusted they had become.
This new thing has gotten out of control though, and should be put to an end ASAP.
On the bright side, a whole generation of screen swiping losers is about to get owned by savvy third world hustlers.
Are 13yo children nowaday?
Really, if you don't want children using smartphones so often, then find something where the non-technology is better than technology.
This may be rather difficult nowadays, but is still possible.
This has nothing to do with the actual tech itself. This has everything to do with teaching a human that moderation is key to damn near everything in life.
Addiction is powerful and damaging no matter what causes it, and replacing one addiction for another is not the answer either. You should try and find many things to replace an addiction with. Also known as living life to the fullest.
Suck my ass you pathetic shit eating motherfucker
Today it seems that everyone must rush to create an online identity in order to create a presence in the social media universe. Parents are often to blame for initiating this, finding it "cute" that their 4-year old has their own Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts (yes, I'm talking to you too, Hollywood). Naturally, child social media stars don't merely shut their look-at-me channels down when they get to the ripe old age of 10 and get their own smartphone, which comes with the added bonus of also being able to surf hardcore porn. (Given the lack of concern regarding internet filtering, this apparently means porn is no longer damaging, illegal, or harmful to minors.)
Chances are we're not solving for some odd addiction to artificial light or "screen time" here. When looking at the real reason behind smartphone addiction, I'm willing to bet a lot of it is tied to an addiction to social media, and the narcissism it creates. Tie the YOLO mentality to the FOMO concept, and it creates that constant need to be attached, online, and updating all the fucking time.
The true addiction to cure for many, is an addiction to narcissism. The kind that social media has created. Perhaps it's time to re-think the religion of social media, and realize just how damaging it can be.
nobody is upto no good all the time.
If my father felt I was spending too much time on my Commodore 64, he would take it from me. But he didn't take away my programming books and notebooks. When I got my Commodore 64 back, I already had a debug program ready to type in and save to cassette.
Our kids were getting distracted at school because of their phones. We tried to limit their use by not allowing them to take them to school. Not only does this totally defeat the purpose of why we bought them phones in the first place (to contact them when we need to pick them up etc), but the school will actually do things that require phones, and ask them to do research on their phones in class. So they have to have their phones and get distracted.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Just like every new technology changes culture, the smartphone era has its positive and negative changes in how people behave. We went from computers being nerd toys and business machines, to absolutely everyone having a computer in their pockets 24 hours a day, and it's only been about 9 or 10 years. Those of us working from the higher side of the tech spectrum have had to deal with apps that are dumbed down far enough that a non-computer user can mash the screen and use them, and of course we have kids using them as the new TV. I know my kids are heavily into YouTube, etc. The positives in my mind are this -- it's super-easy to find information when you need it now, and even though 99.99999% of the communication is junk, it does provide limited opportunities to connect with others. Another negative is that people are expecting insanely complex business applications to act exactly like their consumer phone apps, making life in IT extra-fun.
As for "smartphone addiction" I have seen tantrums, etc. but I don't know about withdrawal symptoms. My kids love watching YouTube videos and playing games, but they know that when it's time to shut it of, it's time, and complaints get the phone put away for a while. I'm sure there are parents who don't care and park their kids in front of phones whenever they're not doing something. I've felt guilty lately because we're in the middle of moving and renovating a house, eating almost all our non-working lives -- and yes, I've been relying on it more as a tool so I can get some of the work done. (The kids are 3 and 6, their version of "helping" doesn't help at this stage.) But, I would hope most parents are remembering back to their days of being in front of the TV, or the Atari/Intellivision//NES/PlayStation. My poison was Intellivision and the VIC-20 back in the day -- I showed my older son some games in an emulator and he was...not impressed. :-) My mom and dad would just take it away when I'd had enough and make me go outside or do something non-tech related. I think most phone usage can be controlled in this way -- you're the parent, and you're paying the phone bills. Even if it's the kid's phone, it's still "yours" and they should remember that.
Just like everything, there has to be a balance. I'm not sure how much I like the narcissistic social media crap, but we're not at that stage yet. They don't get Facebook for quite a while. I'm sure YOLO/FOMO have something to so with why people are reporting addiction symptoms though. I've seen adults who can't wait on a train platform for 10 minutes without instinctively picking up their phones. Actually, try 10 seconds -- nobody talks anymore, or stares out into space daydreaming, or god forbid has a conversation with a stranger.
You should suggest intercourse instead.
No, this is Slashdot.
'Smartphones' are a meme, and you're all still falling for it? LOLOLOL oh, my sides, they're exploding, I'm laughing so hard! Boy, I'll sure be glad when the day comes you all come to your senses and stop using smartphones. Don't you know you're all being taken for fools? It's 2017, for fuck's sake, and you're still carrying around mobile bot-net nodes, that track your every move, and listen in on everything you're saying and seeing everything you're doing? LOL it may as well come with a buttplug, too, that they convince you that you have to have 'installed' to 'authenticate' you or somesuch nonsense. LOL that's okay, I'll be over here, with a plain, cheap non-'smart' phone, not being a dumb cuck who allows shitty corporations and nosy governments to have their little brown noses up my ass all day every day. LOL what a bunch of losers..
Rehab is for real addiction. Internet/smartphone "addiction" isn't real, it's a person's lack of self control or a symptom of a real problem like depression.
For children who won't stop, that's a self control problem on their part. Teaching discipline is the only way the behavior will go away.
You'll be a much happier person once you are under control of your own behavior.
8 year old should be out on the street selling crack (if black), working in a coal mine (if hillbilly) or preparing for college entrance exam (if Asian).
The problem is indeed a lack of moderation, but it's on the parts of the parents and the rest of the society. If you want the kids to find something better than the smartphone you have to actually let them leave the house and congregate somewhere else with their friends. When you have child services freaking out if they see a child without a parent and in the UK you have shops emitting a painful mosquito like whine while in the U.S. you have legal curfews and unaccompanied teens banned from the mall. The woods were mostly cut down and paved over. The bit that's left is called a park and guess what? With parks come police that don't much enjoy unaccompanied teens and children running about. All they have left is the smartphone.
You might think the grown-ups could figure that out, but apparently not.
If you give your child a smart phone you're not a good parent.
And two out of three of those things require cellphones!
...All they have left is the smartphone.
How ironic society is so worried about kids getting into trouble while blindly handing them this addictive weapon of decay.