Social media, especially platforms such as the famous Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube, and more are constantly plagued with restrictions and age verifications due to the quantity of users below ten years old, all because parents allow their children internet access before an appropriate age. Internet access in children who are not even teens yet has numerous negative effects on maturity level and attitude.
Parents who are unable or unwilling to spend with their kids find it easy to hand their child an iPad and “let them entertain themselves.” Kidshealth.org, a web page consisting of articles dedicated to healthy parenting, believes that a key to a healthy child and relationship with them is to “make time for your kids” and “make communication a priority”. Both are important goals, and neither are reached when a child is handed an iPad and allowed to scroll online unmonitored.
A child’s social and physical state is deteriorated by early electronic access. The Cleveland Clinic monitored the mental state of children exposed to the internet, finding that more often than not, children below thirteen years old with internet access are diagnosed with depression and anxiety. They also found that more than 40% of children below thirteen have this internet access.
In the year 2024, technology like mobile phones, any sort of tablet, and laptops has been normalized. Furthermore, young children’s possession of such devices has also been normalized. Some sources and parents believe that this access to technology is actually educating children and improving their cognitive abilities. The article “Should I Get My Kid an iPad?” by Andrea Karin Nelson, published on brightcanary.io, has found a couple of positives of early electronic usage in children. With more educational content available to children, their basic math, vocabulary, and music skills can be strengthened. Nelson also believes that electronics can help parents entertain kids when busy, and that messaging apps can help keep communication between child and parent.
Are these positives worth the long-term effect?
When a child is handed an iPad in order to keep them occupied when a parent is busy, it is difficult to monitor their activity. Although there are parental controls enabled on most devices, the limits may not be as trustworthy as a parent believes. Content restrictions can only do so much. Children have been found to have more difficulty socializing, and have developed addiction due to their extensive use of technology. NBC News published the article “Research Finds More Negative Effects of Screen Time on Kids, Including Higher Risk of OCD”, written by Elizabeth Chuck, in order to advise audiences of the mental problems left on so called “iPad kids.”
OCD, a harmful mental disorder which effects people’s daily lives, has been found in electronic-using children 4.4% of the time. Although this rate does not seem like much, this is a significantly larger number than the average percentage of children diagnosed with OCD before electronics had become normalized in children.
The National Institutes of Health published “Epidemiology of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”, which observed that the OCD diagnosis percentage in people of any age was only 0.05% in the early 1980’s. Now, this number has risen to 2% of people of all ages. 2-3% of the population under 18% have been diagnosed with OCD. Although OCD diagnosis was less frequent before the 21st century due to a lack of research knowledge, these numbers are also observed to have increased due to children’s habits relating to electronic use.
A bewilderment that has spread through the media recently is the finding of children as old as seventh grade being either illiterate, or lacking the IQ that a functioning child should have. Scientificamerican.com published the article “Two Thirds of American Kids Can’t Read Fluently” written by Marion Blank. Blank cited the Urban Institute’s National Assessment of Educational Progress which found that 65% of fourth graders in America had only “basic skills”, such as the ability to read. Although not officially proven yet, this is thought to be correlated with electronic usage in kids.
Without change, future generations will not succeed.
Whether it be mental or physical state, electronics, especially iPads, have been medically proven as harmful to children. While entertaining children and helping parents in tight situations, it is not worth the hassle that will appear later in their lives. Electronic devices should be removed from the lives of young audiences in order to improve generations to come.