World

‘Really Bad Habit’: Students Describe Parent Cell Phone Social Media Addiction

A classroom of 2nd-graders in the southern US has brought the hammer down on widespread use of cell phones and social media by parents around the world.
Sputnik

Don't Text and Sail: Anglers Die After Ship's Lookout Distracted by Cellphone
"I hate my mom's phone and I wish she never had one," stated one child, as part of a classroom assignment to describe a thing that they wish had never existed.

Other comments, ironically posted to the teacher's Facebook account — now taken private after going massively viral — included: "I don't like the phone," "my parents are on their phone every day," and simply, "I hate it." according to Usatoday.com.

After the US school teacher posted her student's comments on Facebook, as well as displaying some of the second grade (between age seven-eight) class work, the reaction was not only eye-opening, but global.

The posts and images quickly went viral, and the page was taken private at about 261,000 shares, although the kid's responses continue to resonate for every parent with a cellphone.

Comments on the post were passionate, including: "We are all guilty!" and "Strong words for a second grader! Listen parents," according to the BBC.

Other commentary saw users encouraging each other to put down their devices and interact with their children.

"Great reminder for us all to put those phones down and engage with our kids more," stated one user.

Comments included teachers around the US and the world discussing their experiences of student reactions to parental social media use and abuse.

"We had a class discussion about Facebook and every single one of the students said their parents spend more time on Facebook then they do talking to their child," stated one user, who added, "It was very eye opening."

Although another user observed that teenagers were guilty of the same social media activity as were their neglectful parents, others pointed out that these behaviors are learned from the parents, according to the BBC.

A May 2017 study in Child Development noted that "technology-based interruptions in parent-child interactions" show links to short attention span and outbursts of anger in young children, according to Usatoday.com.

Discuss