The biggest problems parents face these days all seem to have one in common: smart devices. Compared to generations before, it is a fact that children today suffer more mental health issues. Kids also sleep much less than they should, and this behavior affects their well-being, learning, and development.
Over the recent years, reading and writing skills have been on a decline in Australia, and, despite the frequent promises and reforms, students’ learning in other areas seem to not be getting any better.
Professor Pasi Sahlberg often visits schools and meets parents who ask him what’s wrong with their kids who seem to spend up to eight hours a day on their smartphones and other digital devices. He has this to say:
First, I say that there is no point demonising smartphones. The problem is not the device but what we do with it.
But parents, schools and policymakers have not caught up on what devices, which practically all teenagers now have, are "replacing" in the lives of children and what this leads to.
Quite simply, smartphones and digital media have taken over the time that children used to have for reading and playing outdoors. And all of the benefits of that play time gained cumulatively over the years in a child’s life have been lost as a result.
Find out more about this over at The Sydney Morning Herald.
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