Impacts Of Mobile Phone Addiction On Child Development

 

Mobile phone is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. Its proliferation has without doubt contributed immensely to the socioeconomic advancement of the world. The wide communication gaps which hindered economic and social interactions in the yesteryears have been bridged through the advent of mobile phone and cordless devices. Someone in the farthest latitude of the world can now easily communicate with another one in another place without any hitch. While we all uniformly attest to the indispensable benefits of mobile phone and cordless devices to the world, it has been widely observed and reported that the mobile phone technology has done more harm than good to mankind. Why? It is because millions of children, teenagers and adolescents, even many adults, are addicted to using it frequently. It has been reported that mobile phone addiction has caused adverse cognitive, emotional, psychological and health effects on children, teenagers and even adults across the world. One of the notable impacts of mobile phone addiction is that it inhibits children's cognitive development so much. It is no more subject to argument that children spend several hours daily on their own or their parents' smart phones. They navigate from one programme of the phone to the other. They spend quality time on the smart phones instead of studying their books. Many children even bluntly refuse to do their school home works because they are addicted to the smart phones. It is widely known that pupils and students who spend more time on the phone usually score low grades in both classroom works and examinations. How can a pupil or student come out with flying colours after an examination when he spent all time meant for studies on the screen? Frequent mobile phone use obviously leads to retarded absorptive capacity, reduced attention to academic pursuits, and reduced memory. The brain can only work optimally when it is given an assignment. Children, teenagers and adolescents who spend much time on phones cannot develop critical thinking and reasoning skills. Neither can they reason logically to solve problems nor exhibit qualities of creativity. Phone addiction has become a global plague devouring the children's, teenagers' and adolescents' development. It hampers the children's social relationships and family dynamics. It makes children to behave erratically as if they are ships without rudders to control them. I know some children and youths who always sleep as late as 4am in the morning daily. What engages them throughout the whole night? It is smart phone! In the morning when others are waking up, they will feel weak and dull because no one can cheat nature. When children spend the whole time on the smart phone, they create a Berlin Wall between themselves and their parents. Hence, they encounter reduced parental care and attention. Parents would not likely be able to monitor and account for a child who was outside their house busy with his/ her smart phone and sneaks into the room to sleep by 4am in the morning. How can a tired husband and wife who slept by 10pm in the night after a busy day know what the child is doing outside till 4am in the morning? The weak parents sleep before their children instead of their children to sleep before them. Phone addiction is a serious problem facing the world today. It's not a child's play! Many children are keeping vigil daily playing games with their smart phones while innumerable thousands of them are watching pornographic films throughout the night at the expense of academic studies. In such cases, the child, teenager or adolescent will most likely be alone or with a friend of opposite gender. Regularity of smart phone use by children, teenagers, and adolescents has so much impacts on their physical health. It causes eyes strain and itching, headaches, and insomnia. The time which the children should have used for recreational activities which help in both brain and physical development is wasted for nothing! Not only that, children who are addicted to excessive phone use always suffer from emotional impacts. They experience constant waning self-esteem, depression, stress and loneliness. Karl Max said,"The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people." The proliferation of smartphone technology is good. But, it has caused so much retardation to the development of children, teenagers, and adolescents of this century. When Karl Max said that the world will become useless (unproductive) due to the proliferation of useful technologies, there was no available technology anywhere at that time. Yet, he knew too well that inventions in future will draw the world backwards instead of making it progressive. Why was his prediction correct? It is because he knew the world loves wealth without hard work. He knew that our children and youths will love pleasure more than their academic studies. Where is the beauty of a technology which retards mental, physical, and cognitive development of children across the world? That is an ugly beauty! The point I am making here is that the mobile phones and cordless devices are good. We can communicate very easily today unlike in the dim time past. But, have you considered the fact that children, teenagers and adolescents, even many adults, are helplessly addicted to mobile phone? How can a child study very well and pass examinations with flying colours with the distracting mobile phone in his/ her hand? It's very impossible! If you are sincere, you can see with me that the standard of education has fallen all over the world! In fact, it happened before the advent of the smart phone technology. Essays written by secondary school or college students in the 80's cannot be written by university graduates of today. They cannot write good essays because they do not have time to study. What do you think of a technology which contains almost all the information in the world? While some use it for good, others use it for evil. To many others, it robs them of brain development.Today, we pass from the kindergarten to primary school, and from primary school to secondary school or college, and from there to the universities. Yet, we do not have nothing to show for it. Nothing in the head indeed! We can only flaunt the degree certificates and nothing more. If you don't agree to what I said, tell me why modern doctors forget napkins and scissors and razors in someone's stomach after surgery. I personally know two persons who had these harrowing experiences. One of them, a woman, was not lucky. She died! Was it not because of the doctor's incompetence that he forgot something as big as napkin inside a patient's body? A patient's life is endangered instead of saving it. What a great anomaly! The reason behind this incompetence is because enough time was not given to studies in the university medical school. When my small daughter was vomiting and stooling, her mother took her to a public health centre close to our house. The doctor examined her and gave her drugs. After administering the drugs to the eight years old girl, there was no cure. When her health situation deteriorated, my wife was scared and called me on phone to return to Lagos immediately since I was on a trip to a far place. In response to that call, I quickly returned to Lagos. On getting back to Lagos, I went to another hospital and it said that the drug the doctor gave to my daughter was not the right one for her. The doctor gave me another medication which immediately stopped the vomiting and stooling. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that during use, mobile and cordless phones emit radio frequency (RF) radiations. Previous generations of the world were not exposed during childhood, teenage and adolescence to the types of health challenges that we are facing today: dim eyesight, depression, headaches and others. It has been reported that many schools across Europe are introducing bans or restrictions on the use of mobile phones amid concerns about their impacts on children's, teenager's and adolescent's mental health. The European Commission is on the verge of making laws protecting children from stalkers, bullies, paedophiles and unsuitable or dangerous internet materials. Mobile phones may not be banned or restricted in schools. One thing is very clear: mobile phone use in schools must be regulated, either by a ban or by clear behavioural agreements. While the EU has been increasingly aware of the negative impact of social media and mobile phone use among children and young people, there are no EU-wide rules presently to tackle the issues head-on across all the the 27 EU Member-States. Parents in France, Spain, Britain and Ireland, are intensifying efforts aimed at making it compulsory for all young kids to have nothing to do with smartphones. The Government of France has boldly targeted mobile phone manufacturers asking them to install a parental control system which can be activated when their device is turned on. The President Macron -commissioned study reported that children should be banned from most social media until 18 years of age. Other European nations are introducing bans on mobile phones in schools or restrictions on their use during school periods . UNESCO has said that smart phones should be banned from schools across the world to tackle classroom disruptions, improving learning and also help protect children from cyber bullying. The CNN said that, " Your smartphones are not making them smarter." It is as bad as that! According to one recent Research Centre Survey, 72% of public high school teachers said that cell phone distractions are major problems in their classrooms. Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, WHO expert, said that, "Countries should consider regulating digital devices like smart phones in a similar way to tobacco products, to combat social media's rising negative impact on young people's mental health." To grow up healthy, children need to sit less and play more. They should get better or quality sleep and active physical exercises. Infallible research has proved that routine and frequent use of mobile phones and cordless devices surely causes behavioural problems to children. In terms of mobile phone child health risks investigations, FDA and BBC said that no evidence of harm has been establisbed today. Nonetheless, NHS advice is that children under 16 years should not use mobile phone for a long time, especially if there is nothing important to use it for. Vladimir Poznyak of WHO's Department of Mental Health said that overuse of mobile phone can have adverse effects on children's mental health. Microwave radiations from cell phones and other wireless devices are very harmful to both children and unborn babies in the womb whose mothers are addicted to cell phones. Instead of children to have quality time to sleep at night, they waste all night on the cell phones, only for them to be sleeping in their classrooms during lessons. By so doing, they end up getting very low grades after class tests and examinations. In summary, the United Nations, European Union, Governments of the nations and regions of the world, including academia and international agencies, should promulgate proactive laws aimed at addressing the scourge of mobile phone addiction on the children, teenagers and adolescents of the world. Parents themselves have urgent responsibilities to ensure that children and teenagers are not given access to this silent-killing technology! Schools should integrate digital literacy and online safety into school curricula, while legislators can develop and put into force regulations to protect children and teenagers and adolescents from regular mobile phone use. Any technology that does not work in tandem with children's total well-being and development should be discarded and thrown overboard into a sea of oblivion.

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