47% of parents are concerned that their child has a painful attachment to a smartphone

Does a teenager start breaking if the internet is unavailable? He can not leave the house without a favorite gadget? Even on the go in a crowd of people, he runs his finger across the screen and clicks on the "hearts"? This can often be seen in big cities. Someone says that a new digital generation has grown up, and someone is sounding the alarm - they say, children form an unhealthy dependence, in our childhood this was not, we calmly walked all day along the street and anywhere without contact with home / friends / parents without checking for new messages in the chat. And no one even thought that you can offend a friend if you do not like his last photo.

Nowadays, many adults do not part with smartphones, what can we say about teenagers who live there. The results of the Common Sense Media and SurveyMonkey survey showed that 47% of American parents are worried that their children developed a painful attachment (addiction) to a smartphone. For comparison, only 32% of respondents said that they themselves have such dependence.

How much does a smartphone - with constant online, social networks, chat rooms, music, entertainment - affect the mental health of adolescents? Approximately half of the parents admitted that they are to some extent concerned about this. One in five said that he was “extremely” or “very” concerned. A total of 4,201 people took part in the survey from January 25 to January 29, 2018, including 1024 parents with children under the age of 18 years. Results are normalized by the demographic composition of the US adult population according to census data.

The survey is timed to the truth about technology campaign against children’s dependence on technology, which was launched by the non-profit organization Common Sense Media. They include former employees of Google, Facebook, investors in the IT-industry and others. The campaign has already raised $ 7 million from sponsors.

Researchers who conducted the survey, note that parents are much more concerned about the dependence of children on smartphones and tablets, and not their own addiction. Some people think that immature minds of teenagers are subject to harmful influence, and their adult mentality is not.

The absolute majority (89%) of parents are sure that they have a duty to limit the use of smartphones by their children. The organizers of the movement “The Truth about Technologies” believe that large technological companies should share responsibility with their parents, because they are directly responsible for the spread of IT technologies that have become so popular now. For example, recently two large investors owning Apple's shares for $ 2 billion called on the apple company to take measures to combat technological dependence on children . Apple responded that it plans to add “even stronger” parental control tools to smartphones, although there are already such tools in iOS.

The organization Common Sense Media with particular criticism appeals to the social network Facebook, which recently launched the application Messenger Kids, aimed at an audience up to 13 years. Facebook representatives replied that the application was developed taking into account the recommendations of experts in this field. But a recent Wired investigation found that the work of the experts was funded by Facebook.

It turned out that many parents do not know about the means of parental control, which are present in many smartphones and on many sites. For example, 22% of parents are not aware of the presence of the parental control system on YouTube, and 37% have never used it.

Experts give advice for parents whose children spend too much time in smartphones:

• Set time limits and comply with them . Allocate time during the day when children are allowed to use a smartphone or tablet. And not to be persuaded to give the gadget "for one minute."
• Examine parental control tools .
• Try to establish areas where it is forbidden to use technology . For example, at dinner or before bedtime in bed. But parents should also abide by these rules on a par with children.