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Nearly Half of Parents Worry Their Child Is Addicted To Mobile Devices, Study Finds (usatoday.com)

According to a new survey from Common Sense Media and SurveyMonkey, 47% of parents worry their child is addicted to their mobile device. By comparison, only 32% of parents say they're addicted themselves. USA Today reports: Half of parents also say they are at least somewhat concerned about how mobile devices will affect their kids' mental health. Nearly one in five say they're "extremely" or "very" concerned. According to the survey, 89% of parents believe it's up to them to curb their children's smartphone usage. The survey conducted between Jan. 25 and Jan. 29 included a sample of 4,201 adults, including 1,024 parents with children under age 18. Data was weighted to reflect the demographic composition of the U.S. for adults over 18, based on Census data. Many devices and services feature parental controls, but some parents may not be aware they exist. The Common Sense-SurveyMonkey survey found 22% of parents did not know YouTube -- which has faced scrutiny over how easy it is for kids to find inappropriate videos -- offered parental controls. Also, 37% have not used the controls before. Among parents surveyed who say their kids watch YouTube videos, 62% said their kids have seen inappropriate videos on the site. Most, or 81%, said it's the parents' job to prevent kids from seeing these videos.

15 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. So then don't give them a mobile device by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's really that simple.

  2. How about nearly half of parents try parenting? by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    These people do realize that it's their job as a parents to tell their kids what they can and can't do, right? Or are they too busy trying to be their kids' chill friend and obsessing over their own selfish shit instead of, you know, BEING THE FUCKING PARENT?

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  3. It's a (mostly false) threat! by Falconnan · · Score: 2

    Parents worry about all sorts of things. Everything is a threat. Which is technically accurate if assessed from the position of "zero risk". But just because a parent is worried about a thing doesn't make it an actual threat, though intuition suggests limiting screen time is a wise choice in general. Also, the inappropriate content issue is partially subjective as well. Define the term and try again, knowing that parents differ on what this means. So define the term and try again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

    And while Common Sense Media isn't precisely pro-censorship, they strike me as panicky and reactionary. Also, they have a vested interest in promoting concerns from parents and potential donors. I'm not saying they're in anyway being deceitful, but what I have seen of them suggests a cognitive bias toward provoking fearful response.

  4. Coincidentally by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nearly half of children worry their parents are addicted to mobile devices.

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    #DeleteChrome
  5. My parents were worried about books! by davecb · · Score: 2

    "Stop reading and go out and play, you'll ruin your eyes".

    My mother fell for it, my dad was harder to fool.

    --
    davecb@spamcop.net
    1. Re:My parents were worried about books! by sexconker · · Score: 2

      "Stop reading and go out and play, you'll ruin your eyes".

      My mother fell for it, my dad was harder to fool.

      Nah, "you'll ruin your eyes" was the excuse they told kids. They were actually worried about the fact that you'll never get laid.

  6. Did anyone tell them? by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That their parents were afraid they were addicted to TV?!

    Their parents' parents were afraid they were addicted to radio.

    Apparently this is a thing with every generation that advances somewhat from the old.

    “The children now love luxury. They have bad manners. Contempt for authority. They show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” “[Technology] will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories. They will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing. They will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing” - Socrates

    Some more examples: http://mentalfloss.com/article...

    --
    A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
    1. Re:Did anyone tell them? by sexconker · · Score: 2

      All I see is a chain a true statements throughout history.
      We do have a generation of people unhealthily addicted to mobile devices, social media, etc.
      We do have a generation of people unhealthily addicted to TV and video games.
      We did have a generation of people unhealthily addicted to radio and music. ...
      We do increasingly rely on technology instead of our brains and hands.
      We are increasingly losing practical skills such as cooking, sewing, financial management, carpentry, remembering, thinking, etc.

      Technology isn't inherently bad but reliance on it makes us weaker, especially as we outsource our control over it. We ultimately end up losing autonomy.

    2. Re:Did anyone tell them? by geekmux · · Score: 3, Informative

      That their parents were afraid they were addicted to TV?!

      Their parents' parents were afraid they were addicted to radio.

      Apparently this is a thing with every generation that advances somewhat from the old.

      Addiction to television and radio did not cause thousands of deaths every year. And distracted driving deaths are on the rise.

      Don't be ignorant as to why this addiction is considerably different than the concerns of yesteryear. Addicts can't put their fucking phone down to stop killing innocent people on the road, and that is a threat that damn near every one of us have to face on a daily basis.

    3. Re:Did anyone tell them? by Darkling-MHCN · · Score: 2

      I think you're ignoring that technology is becoming more immersive .... radio just involves the ears, tv eyes and years, whilst phones games are way more immersive and are likely to hold a childs attention longer,

      Progressively intensifying the immersive technologies kids are exposed to is a social experiment, have no doubt about it. With the next generation it'll be augmented reality and VR, who knows after that.

  7. as a millennial...a word. by nimbius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    prior to smartphones it was TV
    prior to TV it was telephones.
    prior to telephones it was playing hooky and going to the theatre
    and prior to that it was that damned jazz.

    It seems some parents --not all mind you-- are out for an excuse to root out anything and everything their child could become addicted to and convict it of the moral decay of all society. The survey singles out Youtube as the degenerate du-jour, whereas my parents complained about the rap music and championed Tipper's parental advisories. After Columbine it was Doom and Mortal Kombat and "those damned video games" that were ushering in a new dark age of "super predators" hellbent on murdering their friends and families...so we got parental ratings for video games.

    To the parents I say this: your child carries with them more knowledge, power, and responsibility in their pocket than you've likely known in the past fifty years. Any question they have can be quickly and comfortably answered by this device, which is nothing short of a god send for kids in cities ruled by moral majorities that refuse to teach sex education, outlaw abortion, and think Gays control the weather. Do yourselves a favour and teach them how to use these devices instead of enacting parental control after parental control, which you neither understand how to operate nor how to troubleshoot when your kid makes their way around it. Mentor your children, dont stifle them.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:as a millennial...a word. by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2

      Hmm. Dramatic sounding.

      To the parents I say this: your child carries with them more knowledge, power, and responsibility in their pocket than you've likely known in the past fifty years.

      It's just a pocket internet connected computer. Yes, there's plenty of useful stuff to connect to, and plenty of useless and harmful crap too.

      And no, my children don't carry them in their pockets, because they don't need them and I don't let them. They are children, and they don't yet have the wisdom to navigate every dark alley in the world.

  8. Easy Test. by Zorro · · Score: 3, Funny

    Take it away and see IF they act like a junkie.

    Nervous?
    Sweating?
    Inability to form thoughts or opinions?
    Sunlight painful?
    Can't sleep?
    Lack of personal hygiene?
    Irritable?
    Defensive?

    You might be an addict.

  9. Only half? by DogDude · · Score: 2

    As somebody who lives in a college town, I would guess that the number is closer to 75%-85% of kids are seriously addicted. It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with all of these kids walking around staring at their devices constantly. Heck, kids even walk less (and ride bikes almost never), because, I assume, they can spend more time on their gadgets sitting on buses than they can walking or biking..

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    I don't respond to AC's.
  10. The other half ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... the kids intercepted the survey and completed it for their parents.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.