Some children spend hours every day on their smartphones. Why is this the case? Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

Some

children

are on their

smartphones

for hours each day.

This

happens because there are lots of entertainment options on their

phones

. In my opinion,

this

is a negative development

due to

the detrimental effects,

such

as addiction. Entertainments offered on

smartphones

are so tempting. The internet makes it possible for users to find everything that amuses them. Nowadays, going on

phones

is not limited to communicating with others through text messaging applications or phone calls, which means that

children

can not only have chats with their friends but

also

play games and stream movies.

For instance

, the University of South Carolina conducted research with

children

as respondents and the main objective was to find out what activities they mostly do on their

smartphones

. The research showed that playing online mobile games had the biggest ratio with 40% of the total screen time, followed by watching movies at 35%, and the rest spent on messaging applications for communication purposes.

However

, with the convenience provided, there are negative impacts, one of which is addiction. When

smartphones

are part of

children

’s daily essentials, there is a high possibility that it will be hard for them to be separated from the devices. If they ever put aside their

phones

, they would feel like they have nothing else to do and their minds would immediately wander back to their

phones

. Research conducted by Kaplan University on

children

with screen time exceeding six hours a day proved that 85% of the respondents answered ‘no’ when asked whether they are able to be away from the phone for an hour or not. Most of the respondents

also

showed uneasy gestures when their

phones

were taken away from them. In conclusion, the overuse of

smartphones

by

children

is

due to

the various choices of entertainment provided on

smartphones

.

Furthermore

, I view

this

as a negative development because of the drawbacks that may occur,

for example

, addiction.