Slashdot Mirror
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."
Sounds like their parents aren't parents, they are just the tallest people in the room.
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.
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.
As a parent of three kids, I tend to agree with most of what you wrote.. but Smartphones are slighly different then say nintendo DS's of the past.
How many times has some mindless zombie kid almost walked into you as they are walking and using their phone at the same time, clueless of their surroundings? i dont recall kids walking and playing their DS's.
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.