By Amanatullah Yusuf
It would be something a lot of us can relate to: staying without phones until we are done with secondary school. How frustrating those days were? We had to stick to our elders and be on our very best behavior for a chance to watch video or play games on their phones.
However, the ground has now shifted. children, as small as age of two, have their own tablets, while those at the age of ten
walk around with Androids and iphones. They are on social media with personal accounts, making content and breaking age long barriers.
I would say that is a good thing. Children are doing so well now. They don’t have to beg and wait for phones like we did, but can the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
Children should make friends, create relationships and connect with nature. They should have funny and embarrassing memories to look back at when older. Children should learn without contact with technology during their early years. What happens when the only memory they can look back to is one of themselves operating tablets, dancing on TikTok or playing multiple games ? What happens if there are no memories of true human connection?
I believe a child cannot keep a phone and have a very cordial relationship with the nature of humans. You would argue that children get smarter with extra time on the phone, making them learn faster and accumulate knowledge on new things. But even children who had contact with only pure nature also had the same.
The online world has sprinkled children with bad poison. One which still rings a bell is the “cowgirl” case. I wouldn’t reveal details for obvious reasons but one thing is sure: no one would want their child in the position she was found or rather, both of them were found.
How about we delve into the medical aspect of it, have we ever wondered how phones affect children?
According to Innohealth, phones can cause sleep deprivation which can result in serious mental health problems in children less than 19 years. Not only that. A healthy spine is one of the key factors of wellbeing during growing age. However, when kids are slouching over a cell phone for most hours daily, they ruin their neck and back muscles.
Preliminary data from an Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study found that increased screen time is not just bad for the brain but can affect a child’s psychology,thinking patterns,sleep cycles and behaviors; shortening their attention span and potentially encouraging violent and aggressive behavior.
Brain scans have shown kids who spend more time on their screens have a premature thinning of the cortex. The cortex is the outermost layer of the brain that is involved in processing different types of information from all five senses. Cortical thinning at a young age thus indicates that children are maturing earlier from the use of cellphones.