Cell phones impact teens in ways we don’t realize
One of the struggles we have as adults these days is understanding the true impact of cell phones on our own lives, to say nothing about the struggles that parents have in understanding how cell phones affect teens. Here is a first hand story from a Mom of a 16 year old girl. In serves as a great window into what is happening to us as a culture.
Cell phones likely contributing to problems of children
This morning I attended an informal presentation by the Granby School Superintendent, Dr. Addley. He noted that one of the needs of incoming students that has increased greatly in the last few years is in the social/emotional area.
One of the likely causes is less interaction between pre-school children and parents/grandparents in the years before attending school. There are many possible contributors to this decrease in time spent with children — dual parent work schedules, divorce, single parenting, and lack of family support structures. But one of the more insidious and maybe the most correctable is that adults are absent emotionally from each other and from the children in the home because of the time adults spend on media. Here is an excellent article exploring this topic.
I totally agree with its conclusions. In fact, my wife has been telling me that I may need to put some of those suggested rules in place myself. I guess I have been “phubbing” her. Ouch!