Are Your Children Addicted to the Use of Smart Phones?

 

 

If you, as parents, have decided that your children are responsible enough to have cell phones, it is imperative, for your children’s safety and well-being, that you set ground rules and monitor your children’s cell phone use, especially if your children are using smart phones.

Because smart phones are so fun to use and readily make staying in touch with anyone incredibly easy, and because smart phones can do just about everything, they can become quite addictive. I must admit that I am at a loss if I don’t have my Blackberry with me at all times. Smart phones can also be very addictive for some children and teens.

How can you know if your children might be addicted to smart phone usage? There are some signs that you can watch for to determine if your children have a serious problem with smart phone addiction.  If the answer is yes to the majority of these questions, your children may have a smart phone addiction:

·       Do your children become stressed, anxious, glum or grumpy during times that they cannot use their smart phones?

·       Do your children persistently break the house or school rules that may forbid smart phone use at certain times?

·       Do your children stay up late at night to text, play game apps, or use any other features of their smart phones?

·       Have your children lost interest in alternative activities that don’t include smart phone usage?

·       Do your children persistently check their phones for messages, even when they are involved in other activities?

·       Do your children frequently text people who are in the same room or building?

·       Do your children spend too much money on apps, ringtones, and music downloads?

·       Do your children frequently isolate themselves while in group social settings in order to use their smart phones?

·       Do your children routinely interrupt face-to-face conversations to answer text messages or calls?

·       Do your children display an inability to focus on studies because of their smart phones?

If your children seem to be addicted to their smart phones, it doesn’t mean that they are unstable or that they are not developing normally. It may simply mean that they have not yet learned to strike a proper balance between staying connected and being unconnected in order to focus on alternative activities. Parents can help their children strike the proper balance by monitoring and limiting smart phone use and by setting good examples themselves in their own smart phone usage.

 

Picture credit: Zanetta Hardy