Yeah it's time for proper restriction of smart phones for kids. Even a ban. We have enough evidence they're dreadful for us and worse for children. Let's get on with it now. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - ThreadSky

bennewmark.bsky.social • 72 days ago

Yeah it's time for proper restriction of smart phones for kids. Even a ban. We have enough evidence they're dreadful for us and worse for children. Let's get on with it now.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/17/children-swiped-channel-4-smartphones-mental-health-addiction

Comments

gcse-macbeth.bsky.social•72 days ago

I can see the merits in a ban on smart devices for children -- I really can -- but I think they're carrying too much blame for much wider issues.

adaloveslace.bsky.social•72 days ago

Agree. It's not the devices, it's mostly a handful of few apps. Banning the device would mean also taking away useful apps from children.

gcse-macbeth.bsky.social•71 days ago

I also don't accept that "Child with phone" has to automatically mean "Child spends 5 hours per day on phone"

bennewmark.bsky.social•72 days ago

I figure the evidence of harm from phones is good enough for "shut this down while we all work out what's going on", and certainly much stronger than what we have for "schools are making children more and more unhappy" which is a real distraction.

gcse-macbeth.bsky.social•72 days ago

These are all tentacles of the same kraken. Hacking at the tentacles might help a bit but it's not going to kill the thing.

leecaluan.bsky.social•71 days ago

This article is based on a very poorly researched ch4 program. There’s no evidence that phones damage children. We see throughout history that any new fad for children was automatically considered dangerous. Be it arthritis in children who play computer games or skateboard or what, no evidence

bennewmark.bsky.social•71 days ago

Right. Insta. TikTok. Porn. All cool. Unless you're making a distinction between phones and the apps? I can't see how we can separate them.

leecaluan.bsky.social•71 days ago

Ahhh well there’s the rub, you are blaming phones instead of better education. Especially around porn but it can apply to all of the above. Unfortunately the conservative gut reaction is to ban everything (as if that ever worked 🤦🏻) instead of educate and guidance. If we discussed with children

bennewmark.bsky.social•71 days ago

Can you take me through about what better education about porn might look? I saw a lesson a while back for 13yos that sort of assumed they were all watching it and how to do so l I dunno.. ethically? I was deeply uncomfortable with it.

leecaluan.bsky.social•71 days ago

That’s a fast shift there Ben! You were all for banning phones and apps a second ago; I’m glad you’ve shifted to the idea of education and tolerance. Regarding your question I think I’ll leave that to people who are better educated than I to implement a process for broaching these difficult issues

bennewmark.bsky.social•71 days ago

No I'm still absolutely for banning phones and apps for children. I suspect you know this and this is a debating trick. I'm interested in exploring how impractical the idea of education to use these things better is given the examples I've seen.

leecaluan.bsky.social•71 days ago

However the fact that young people have the ability to access the whole content of human endeavour (good or bad) instantly does throw up challenges and as we all know banning phones or apps will not solve this dilemma. Guiding young people through the difficulties of the modern world is going to be

leecaluan.bsky.social•71 days ago

the effect’s of social media and porn we would empower you people to make better decisions and have a healthier understanding of the negative and positive benefits. But yes you’re right let’s just ban phones 🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻

retrogem.bsky.social•71 days ago

📌

ahelpinghandtom.bsky.social•72 days ago

So what do kids do that rely on social media for interaction?

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