Publication date: October 15, 2024
Viral video shows the dark side of children’s smartphone use
By Movieguide® Contributor
A new video showing the harmful effects of smartphones on children has gone viral, with parents around the world praising its powerful message.
“How much life does your phone consume?” Spain-based sports apparel company Sirocco posted on TikTok with a video of a young girl receiving a smartphone for Christmas.
She easily becomes addicted to her phone, takes selfies, plays games, uses it while eating, and gets distracted by her phone while doing homework. Now it looks like this. As her addiction deepens, things begin to deteriorate.
The girl begins falling asleep during class, accidentally stumbles upon pornography while scrolling through her phone, and ends up becoming the target of cyberbullying. Her parents tried to take her phone away, but she screamed and had a seizure.
Finally, the girl finds her bike in the garage and decides to try riding it. The video ends with her riding a bike with a big smile on her face.
The video has been shared on TikTok and Instagram, with parents reacting strongly to the message.
“Why did I cry over this???” one parent lamented, “our sweet children deserve better than this!”
Siroko’s video reflects a number of studies examining children and adolescents’ attachment to mobile phones.
A 2016 study found that “50 percent of teens feel ‘addicted’ to their mobile devices, and 59 percent of parents agree that their children are.” It has been reported.
“Furthermore, parents and children are concerned about the impact mobile device use will have on their daily lives, from the car ride to the dinner table…More than a third of families surveyed We discuss it every day regarding the use of the device,” the report continued.
Movieguide® previously reported on the dangers of smartphones, especially for young people:
Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and professor at New York University, is urging parents to keep middle school students away from their smartphones.
“We need to send our kids to school at least until early adolescence. Get all this out of middle school. Let’s really protect middle school brains. If we want to communicate with them, we should use flip phones, not smartphones. Let’s give it to them,” Hite said. said Currently appearing on “FOX & FRIENDS”.
He explained that smartphones, unlike flip phones, “lock you in” because you don’t have easy access to social media platforms.
Hite also shared statistics showing that when young people start using smartphones regularly, their mental health declines precipitously.
“For girls, mental health was actually pretty stable from 2000 to 2010 and 2011,” he explained. “Then all of a sudden, around 2013, girls became very, very depressed, especially [turn to] self-harm. The incidence of self-harm increases by more than 100%. For pre-teen girls, it’s closer to 200%, so it seems like something is going on with them and it has to do with social media. ”
Mr Hite said boys were also doing “much worse things”.[with smartphones]they become increasingly addicted to video games. Their mental health is deteriorating as they spend more and more time on screens. ”
