Children -- The dangers of social media.

I don't think you can put all the blame on social media. There is so much pressure on families  that children can pick up on the vibes but are unable to understand why. there is peer pressure in schools.

With so many parents looking at their phone more often than their children, the children is dragged into the social media world and for some a way to communicate with their parents.

I think the obsession with mobile phones is partly to blame - kids are never off them.  Yesterday we caught a bus into Leeds at 'school home time' and everyone but everyone of those children on the bus was on their phone - there was no conversation between people, no buzz, just complete fixation with their screens.  It was actually quite scary to watch - like a load of automatons!  The only time anyone talked at all was when they got an incoming call!

My OH and I were chatting all the way - and neither of us had our phone with us let alone in our hands!

Not just children, have been in cafes and restaurants where the adults and children are on their phone, and still check their phones whilst eating. Will the next and following generation be able to converse face to face with each other, will they be able to write and spell correctly or will it be text speak. 

Perhaps we, the adults, have gone soft in our dotage and never tell the brats to 'put it down', or it's rude in company particularly at mealtimes.

So maybe a sterner line from the parents might go some way to curing their psychological malaise.

I've just read about a Gastropub in Wales which is offering a 25% discount to people who are willing to leave their mobile phones at the door.  They are disappointed at the number of people using their phones whilst eating, and not appearing to be at all interested in the food or their companions!  It will be interesting to read how they go on in a month or two!

Went into our local village store as the primary school closed yesterday afternoon and there was a queue of kids with parents buying sweets by the barrel load. Warnings on teeth and weight????????????

It's not social media that is to blame it is screens of all sorts. Without the screens the problems would be less but I know we can never go back to the screen-free days. What needs to be done is far stricter limitation on user times. My own 8 year old great nephew is constantly glued to his iPad and has been for at least 2 years. To a great degree I blame his (single parent) mother and grandmother. Both, especially grandmother, are also constantly on their devises even when they have company. As a consequence it is a 'normal' way of life for him. He even takes his iPad to the loo with him even for just a wee. He jumps up from the table as soon as he has shovelled a meal down his throat and is back on his pad. Try taking it off him and he just goes into meltdown. He rarely 'plays out', has no friends after school, hasn't a clue about how to tell the time and totally incapable of fastening shoe laces, things that I'm certain I could easily do before his age.

I and my wife are very worried about him but neither his mum or grandma seem particularly concerned. Are we worrying unnecessarily?

It's always handy to have a child around to point you in the right direction when you can't get the phone to work

David

JohnM, I would be worried too if that was a family child, but unfortunally what can we do. Everything is done on Ipad or computers now, and we are all encouraged to use them for everything. I often what the next generation will be like.