The modern age brings with it great possibilities as our modern technology, readily available to the general public, makes our lives easier in every facet of reality. With it, however, comes inherent dangers: our gadgets, smartphones especially, are crazily addictive so it’s a wonder anyone can ever put them down. Media, entertainment, knowledge, social interaction – all are available to us at a moment’s notice, and we’re increasingly becoming attached to our handhelds devices almost feeling naked when we’re without them. This effect is even more present with children, as they lack the cognitive capacities to successfully deal with the addiction as the dopamine can be too much for them! So, what can we do to ensure our children have a healthy time growing up? Unfortunately, the answer might lie in limiting their availability!
However, let’s focus on the positives first! Be it as it may, technology provides an inherently useful tool for approaching the world, and, if used properly, can prove deeply engaging and rewarding, almost like a third parent. iPhones and other mobile devices offer a range of applications that can be utilized to benefit a person’s growth; self-development tools are readily available for the willing student! Among these are reading apps that teach children to value books and literature, apps for children to learn math and science, colouring apps and other programs that boost creativity and critical thinking, brain games for keeping your mental apparatus fresh, and much more! It is up to you as the parent to skillfully guide your child’s attention towards the beneficial apps and tools, and away from the addictive, attention-grabbing applications that are generally harmful to both mental and physical faculties (“cell phone neck” is increasingly becoming a prevalent phenomenon among youth). Apart from apps, smartphones are used also used to browse the web and can prove to be useful in a range of activities for instance, if you want to move your furniture to a different location, requesting this service from a site like movon.com is seamless and easy!
Dangers of Addiction
The positives are overwhelming and a good reason to keep using this technology, but unfortunately so are the negatives. Addiction runs rampant among kids and young adults, with some even beginning to show signs of anti-social behaviour or displaying some other symptoms of addiction, whether in school or in the workforce. Some managers have noted a difference between older, pre-smartphone-era employees versus millennials and gen Z employees. Namely, the younger crowd keeps their smartphone face up between their hands and keyboard, constantly looking down from their PC screen to their smartphone to check for notifications. Older employees, on the other hand, keep their phone locked and to the side of the work area. Any loss in concentration greatly impacts the quality of work and the effects of this have been well studied and documented in experiments on rats whereby those that were inundated with external stimuli were 3 times slower when it came to completing mazes. So, smartphone use can have staggering implications for the physical and mental health of our children and young adults. It might be smart to limit their usage and do your best to curb iPhone addiction among kids and youth!