Forget smartphones, spend time with your children

I have a question for the four parents who wrote in to Gulf News, to complain against their children’s YouTube viewing habits (“Letters to the Editor”, Gulf News, August 27). They are admitting to the fact that their children are watching inappropriate things online and for far more hours than is considered healthy for them. How is it that their toddlers and children have access to a smartphone and internet connection? I am sure it is not without the parents’ knowledge. It’s you, yourself, who first introduces them to such a world.

These days, it is as if children are pre-programmed to use smartphones from birth. Blaming technology for this predicament and asking Google to monitor and YouTube to ban channels, is never going to be the solution. If you will not allow your child to play with an electric socket or give him matchsticks as a toy, why do you think it is okay to give him or her a gadget which can introduce them to lot of inappropriate content? Most people are probably aware that online content can be equally, if not much more dangerous.

Do you really believe the generation of children that existed a decade ago, which did not have smartphones to play with or YouTube channels to watch during every waking moment, is less smart than children today? They are undoubtedly not. Please let your children play with old-fashioned toys. Better yet, play with them, talk to them, listen to them, read them stories, create stories together, and take a genuine interest in spending time with them. I can assure you, you will definitely notice a positive difference in just a few days, not only in their behaviour, habits, attitudes, eating and sleeping patterns, but surprisingly, in yourself, too.

- The reader is an Indian homemaker based in Abu Dhabi.