The Terrible Costs of a Phone-Based Childhood
Once a few students get smartphones and social media accounts, the other students put pressure on their parents, putting them into a trap as well. It’s painful for parents to hear their children say, “Everyone else has a smartphone. If you don’t get me one, I’ll be excluded from everything.” (Of course, “everyone” may just mean “some other kids.”)
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But in a phone-based childhood, children are plunged into a whirlpool of adult content and experiences that arrive in no particular order. Identity, selfhood, emotions, and relationships will all be different if they develop online rather than in real life. What gets rewarded or punished, how deep friendships become, and above all what is desirable
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