Kids should not have access to phones and other technology because it can stunt children’s mental and physical development.
Social media has become heavily intertwined in people’s daily lives. Because of its easy accessibility, kids are susceptible to cyberbullying, mental development delays, screen addiction and declining social skills.
Young children should not have access to phones or technology before they have the knowledge of internet safety and the dangers of excessive screen time.
Cyberbullying is a major danger of social media and is often a repeated behavior aimed at scaring, angering or shaming people. Cyberbullying can lead to depression, low-self esteem, anxiety and even suicide.
Kids relying heavily on their phone can cause them to focus on technologies instead of on things like their education. Using technology negates kids from using their brains, prohibiting full development and causing screen addictions.
The more kids are on their screens, the less they interact with others and risk hurting their academic performance. Gen Alpha’s reading and math scores are at an all time low since 1970 – declining at a rate it’s never been before.
Screen addiction is a behavioral addiction involving the excessive use of digital devices that disrupt daily life. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, people between the ages of 8 to 28 spend about 44.5 hours per week in front of digital screens.
The more technology kids use, the more their social skills deteriorate.
Excessive technology use can negatively impact students’ social skills. It reduces opportunities for face-to-face interactions, hindering their ability to interpret non-verbal cues and potentially leading to difficulties with empathy and communication.
The technology of today is distracting, and kids’ attention spans are shorter than ever.
Keeping technology from the hands of children allows them to grow, develop and simply experience life without having their faces buried in a screen. Growing up, I never had a phone. Instead, I used a tablet with monitored internet access to play games. My mom and dad would only allow me to play on my tablet on weekends, and they made me use a computer for schoolwork only.
We are at a point where kids are receiving phones at 3- to 4-years old because parents want their child to sit still. According to the National Library of Medicine, in the 3 to 4 year age group, 19% used mobile phones for three hours or more. While 93.3% of parents felt they shouldn’t give their child a phone, 71.4% children of these parents still used one.
I did not receive my first phone until 2020. Without a phone, I did not have to worry about the distractions online, and I did not download my first social media app till 2022. In hindsight, it was the best thing for me. This helped me to focus on school and fully develop into the person I am today.
Giving children a phone is like giving a kid a drug. They do not know the negative impact it will have on their childhood development and future.
Categories: Opinion
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