Tweens online 24/7. Is that a bad thing?
Tweens online 24/7. Is that a bad thing?
Like many working parents, Beverly Flaxington armed her daughter with a cell phone in fifth grade, when the time came for her to venture out alone. At first, it was a great way to stay in touch.
That was then.
Now 13, Samantha's grades have slipped drastically and she's obsessed with texting, Facebook and her laptop, sometimes falling asleep in her clothes clutching her phone. When her texting exceeded 2,000 messages a day, her parents shut off the function from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on school nights, and Sam "just went nuts."
Smart phones, MP3 players, laptops and other devices are the air kids breathe — perhaps too deeply, judging from a new study that shows children ages 8 to 18 devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes a day consuming some form of media for fun. That's an hour more than they did five years ago. And they're champion multitaskers, packing content on top of content for an even heavier onslaught.
"This is a game changer," said the report's author Donald Robert. "We're really close to kids being online 24/7."
Kids, the survey showed, now spend more time listening to music, playing games and watching TV on their cell phones than talking on them. Perhaps more surprising: Only about three in 10 said their parents have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV or playing video games.
Not all parents consider all that time spent on technology a bad thing. Craig Kaminer's 19-year-old and 16-year-old boys have laptops, high-speed Internet connections, Xbox, HDTV, iPhones, video chat, iPods, GPSes, DirectTV with DVR, Kindles and digital cameras.
"They're connected to the Internet, each other and us from the second they wake up until they go to sleep," said Kaminer, of St. Louis. "In general, they're very grounded and handle the balance well."
Share on Facebook
- Posted on January 22, 2010
Animals
Art
Your stories
I have a pretty strict dad so from what I learned from him, I know the right and wrong time to pick up my gadgets and start using it. I don't think it's a big deal, as long as the person shuts all of their electronics off and get to bed by their bed time.
truthfully, i think i'm like this person because i text, watch tv, go online on my laptop like every single day. My parents allow me to do this because everyday i also do tennis 24/7.=, so that means i have lots of physical time on my hands. It's not the kids fault (techinically) because well, lots of people have been inventing more technology which makes kids more interested. I mean like, kids are always in to new things such as: ipads, iphones, kinect, and etc. Besides, technology can help kids and adults in many ways like help us research, check homework, and even play some educational games!
If my parents did that too me, I would flip out ! I never go anywhere without my phone. Every where I'm at, I have my phone but, I do think my parents need too do this. I honestly have to say I'm using my phone and on my laptop more than I need too be. It says in the passage "Kids, the survey showed, now spend more time listening to music, playing games and watching TV on their cell phones than talking on them. Perhaps more surprising: Only about three in 10 said their parents have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV or playing video games", which is true. I listen to music right from the time I get home and I also fall asleep listening too music with my phone in my hand.
I want some of thoughs things but I wouldn't be on them a lot! I would just use them to stay in contact with my friends. I want at least a phone and if my parents read this aricle, I'll never get a phone!!!
I cant believe how much these parents give there kids I would say there spoiled! I think by spoiling there kids this helps cause obesity. Give them a reason to stay inside and use there electrons and not be outside doing sports and staying or being fit. I think given your kid a phone for safety reasons is a good idea, and Internet if they are busy with sports and always doing homework on the go would be a reason for them too have Internet to help with there work. I don't feel that kids need to have every electronic that they want for the only end up using it a couple times then they just sit there and collect dust.
I agree that kids should use their cell phones for safety reasons like staying in touch with their parents, and the internet it a great way to get homework done fast and easy. When I ask my mom for an electronic I always try to make sure I use it and that it doesn't collect dust, but if I had to return everything or not use it for a day I'd be fine with that.
I have to say that the girl samantha did go over board but that the worse case senario. There are a million teens in this world an all of us are not like that at all. In my opionion that was a bad example they should have used a different example maybe compared them but the definatly.
Yes, being online 24/7 is a bad thing. I mean getting on there for an hour or two then that's ok but falling asleep with your laptop in your lap is not a good thing. Kids need to cut down on being on the internet and txting because, next you won't have internet or your phone anymore if you keep making a habit of being online 24/7.
I have to say that I love electronics but I am definitely not on electronics 24/7 because it gives me a headache electronics are everything that anyone does these days even little 2 year old know how to work and text on a phone or call. A lot of kids have phones now and if they do they are probably on them a lot
This is unbelievable! I cant believe her daughter sent over 2,000 text messages a day! I usually send about that many text messages in about a month. Not even.