Forum: Time to look into restricting mobile phone use among the young
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
In a poll in the UK, 77 per cent of parents of primary school-going children say they want a ban on smartphones for those under 16 ( The making of a smartphone zombie generation,
To protect our children from the harms of premature smartphone ownership, we need a whole-of-society approach.
Whenever I see a young child holding a mobile phone next to a parent using his own mobile, my heart sinks. I hope that, perhaps at home, the parent would limit the child’s screen time, read to him or talk to him at mealtimes, and that they share more face-to-face time.
But what if this is not happening, and mobile phone use continues, hardly stopping, in the home, at the playground, dining table or even in bed?
Parents may be struggling constantly to get their kids to stop using the phone.
With the advent of artificial intelligence and robotics, what will give humans the edge is the ability to communicate, collaborate, persuade and lead.
Do we want our children to be passive consumers of others’ videos, news feeds and advertisements, or to be producers or entrepreneurs?
They need to develop the skills to observe, imagine, think critically and empathise so they can create products or services that can meet our needs or address social problems.
Many parents who work for high-tech companies in Silicon Valley delay their children’s exposure to mobile phones and social media, impose strict limits on their children’s screen time and choose schools with a no-screens policy.
Excessive screen time, especially among children, is a problem that needs urgent action from parents, schools, the Government and tech companies.
If implemented widely, the Smartphone Free Childhood idea can buy time for parents to build their children’s fundamental skills, such as in reading, self-expression and creativity, and to nurture screen-time discipline before they own a mobile phone.
Ng Poh Leng
