Children as Young as 13 Are Now Attending "Smartphone Rehab"

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The best punishment you can hand down to kids these days may be taking away their digital devices, as they are all reportedly addicted to them. It’s gotten so bad that rehab centers are now offering courses on how to recover from smartphone usage. Is this a true addiction we are talking about, though, or are tablets and such just super entertaining?

…in the US, the problem has become so severe for some families that children as young as 13 are being treated for digital technology addiction. One “smartphone rehab” center near Seattle has started offering residential “intensive recovery programs” for teenagers who have trouble controlling their use of electronic devices. The Restart Life Center says parents have been asking it to offer courses of treatment to their children for more than eight years. Hilarie Cash, the Center’s founder, told Sky News smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices can be so stimulating and entertaining that they “override all those natural instincts that children actually have for movement and exploration and social interaction.”
 
I have a 10 year old daughter that took over an old iPhone 5c (no cell service, but wifi makes it ok to run apps). I took the device away from her a few months ago when she wasn't do homework - you would you thought I beat her with barbed wire. She said her life was ruined now. Really? WTF? I kept it from her for a week and she lived.
She carries this stupid phone around with her all the time. Even when we go out in public, it goes in her back pocket. I guess it's a status symbol or something? Back when I was a young lad, leather Nike shoes were the rage - you didn't have them, you just couldn't be cool. Maybe its a phone now. IDK.
 
My kids don't get phones until they are older and able to earn the money to pay for them. A simple dumb phone or smartwatch with the ability to dial 911 and us is all they need until then. Children shouldn't have phones before then, period, and it's irresponsible to do otherwise. They become too reliant on them. I've seen many begin to feel like they don't need to learn anything, because they can always find an answer somewhere online to their question. Kids so reliant on technology they just don't know how to cope without it. Ridiculous.
 
It is really bad. When I. Driving around the city I have to keep an eye on kids walking with their phones glued to the face. They have a habit to suddenly walk into the street without looking. I have seen kids walk into cars poles and trip and fall into ditches.
 
One of my best friends and his wife refuse electronic toys for their 4 year old son. They both went through elec/comp engineering with me, so they're not luddites, they just know the risks. Her mom is retired and stays with them for daycare. Little dude runs around and plays with cars and Duplo like any healthy kid.

Another good friend's 4-year old son screeches like a banshee when he can't watch Thomas the Tank Engine on mom's phone whenever he demands it. It's been the babysitter while mom does other stuff.

Two approaches, two completely expected results.
 
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This is what happens when parents aren't parents and phones and tablets are nothing more than digital parents.

That said, I disagree with the whole notion that kids don't need a phone or at least up to a certain age. We don't live in the 90's anymore guys, the world and things have changed. My 10 year old daughter has a flip phone because she often babysits and we have no land line phone. Also given we live out in the country it makes it easier if her and her friends are out somewhere and need to get in touch. That said, We keep tabs on it. It isn't something that she has in her hand 24/7. There comes a certain time of the night where the phone is shut off and sits on the charger. There are a ton of other benefits to it as well, things that I honestly never imagined decades ago. I always maintained that kids didn't need a phone because I grew up using payphones. Well guess what? Payphones largely don't exist anymore.

The point is that technology isn't the problem here. Shitty parents are the problem.
 
Shouldn't you guys be outside? :)

[H]ard|Rehab. My name is Dustin and I'm addicted to [H]ardForum.

Kids take it to the extreme sometimes. To the point where they depend on the phone. Without it, they do go through withdrawals. I LOVE going on vacation (camping, ocean, etc.) where they put their phones down and just enjoy everything around them. Some places they have service, but they don't care. They have other things to do. Exploring, walking, just doing other stuff. Get back into a place where they are bored, and they go back to the phones or games. On nice days, I love when my kids go outside to play, walk to the store, do stuff. On shitty days, they're inside playing games. I don't really expect anything else.

I'd like to see the demographics. Are these people from the city where there is a lack of other things to do? I know in some small towns (the ones I grew up in), there was a lack of things to do so we got in a bit of trouble (nothing terribly bad)...
 
oh yeah, these new generation fucking little retards, raised by inept parents, then given meds, now into the "safe space" thing. pretty much "devolving" at this point because of the lack of attrite against the environment and each other. i wonder if theyre gonna end up going back to the woods, living among apes or something.
 
i see kids crossing the street looking down at their phones the entire way. eyeballs superglued.
dumb kids, bad parents

no matter how hard I try, I can't find anything that could glue my eyes to the screen for that long
 
When I was a kid many decades ago, the worst punishment to me which drove me bat shit is to have to spend the whole day in my room and had to eat dinner in my room as well. Not being able to go outside and ride my bike, skimboard, skateboard, play baseball with all the neighborhood friends was the worst. The phone? Hell I couldn't care less about a damn phone. The phone we had hung in the kitchen with a 20ft cord that was a tangled mess and was a rotary phone to boot. I didn't wear shoes unless my mom made me and I only wore shorts, I was so dark I still looked like I was wearing underwear naked. I remember working in a tech support center back in the late 90's and me and this other dude my age were the only ones with a tan because we both did a lot of offshore fishing. Most of the people that worked there were so white you could see their entire vascular system. Seeing kids these days glued to their phones is the saddest thing to witness.

I really miss those days.
 
necrosis said:
What moronic parents give their kids a smart phone. Hell a phone period.
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I can't speak for all schools, but my nephew and his classmates use them in school for classes. If you don't have one, you're at a disadvantage. It's a well to do area, so everyone has one. This has been a trend for at least a decade and it's not going away.[edit: a trend of kids having phones...smartphones is more in the last 5 years] You might as well tell everyone on [H] that they were ruined by playing video games as kids.

That said, I think it's probably best to limit the time kids can use the devices. My nephew lives on his phone.....then again, I spend a ton of time on my computer as well as a phone and tablet.

Is their addiction? Maybe. I think I use them too much, but if I don't have access, I don't have access. I certainly wouldn't plan a vacation around internet access, but if I was out of the country, I'd get a prepaid sim card (so long as the price was right).
 
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Dekoth-E- said:
This is what happens when parents aren't parents and phones and tablets are nothing more than digital parents.

That said, I disagree with the whole notion that kids don't need a phone or at least up to a certain age. We don't live in the 90's anymore guys, the world and things have changed. My 10 year old daughter has a flip phone because she often babysits and we have no land line phone. Also given we live out in the country it makes it easier if her and her friends are out somewhere and need to get in touch. That said, We keep tabs on it. It isn't something that she has in her hand 24/7. There comes a certain time of the night where the phone is shut off and sits on the charger. There are a ton of other benefits to it as well, things that I honestly never imagined decades ago. I always maintained that kids didn't need a phone because I grew up using payphones. Well guess what? Payphones largely don't exist anymore.

The point is that technology isn't the problem here. Shitty parents are the problem.
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I don't think anyone on this thread is arguing that kids shouldn't have phones period, but rather smartphones only. Your example would be the "OK" part (dumb phone until a certain age).
 
chenw said:
I don't think anyone on this thread is arguing that kids shouldn't have phones period, but rather smartphones only. Your example would be the "OK" part (dumb phone until a certain age).
Click to expand...

Necrosis was.
 
Addictive behavior has nothing to do with the addiction and everything to do with the person and how they are raised or their genetics. My kids all had phones as soon as hand me down phones started coming off our data plans. By 6th grade they get them connected to the cell providers, all the kids maintain excellent grades, they have no restrictions on the use unless we are respecting someone else. Now here is the kicker, the oldest one which I admit to doing the worst job raising has had the phone taken away the most times as a punishment (works way better than grounding). The next one, I don't think he has ever had his phone taken away. Some outside people would call them addicted, but what is addiction? They have chores, they do them, or they get punished, they have performance expectations in school and extra curricular activities they meet these requirements easily. They know what these are and they adhere to them for the most part pretty well. In exchange they are given the freedom to learn how to manage their life and a failure here and there isn't a bad thing. If a kid is addicted you are going to want to focus on the emotional issues not get distracted by the object they vent their pain through.

Is the smartphone worse than TV, how many kids were raised by TV in the 80s?
How about a land line phone, come on I bet a lot of you grew up in the days of kids who were addicted to talking on the phone for hours and running up long distance bills with friends.
A console?
Any other activity one can become addicted to?

These kids who are addicted to phones, phones are the least of your worries trust me, its a sign of things to come and this is their current outlet.

Should we hide them from phones because we fear they will become addicted, or allow them to use the phones and think about all the positive benefits, the family grocery list, todo lists, through onenote, and calendar is synchronized on the phones and everyone is expected to participate and pitch in. They are learning how to operate in the world they will live in and use the tools they will definitely have to their best ability and resist the urge to have that tool negatively affect them. You can play on the phone, you can listen to music, you can watch videos, you can also work, learn, cooperate...... IMHO there is way more to be gained from the phones than lost. Not the least of which is that unlike all the hearsay you see with most things with kids, the internet puts a record of their actions up, so you can get to the truth easier if their is an issue.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
The point is that technology isn't the problem here. Shitty parents are the problem.
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And we have the winner.

If it wasn't cell phones, it would be something else.
This is the same kind of parent that used to sit their kid in the toy isle and let them play/break the toys while the parent went shopping.

My kid started using a computer when she was 1, but she played with blocks/Legos/etc most the time.
She didn't get a phone until she was 13, and we have strict rules which would result in a loss of the phone is she break the rules.

She has maintained an "A" average in school, before and after she got the phone, so no problems here.
 
My step children have no access to shit like this.

No tablet, unless for school work related
No Phone because.. if you cant pay for it.. you cant have it.
No computers or laptops. Because being responsible proves you can be responsible with tech imo of which both the 9 and 11yr old have proven they cant be.
No gaming systems because again.. responsibilities comes first.

Everything in my house is from responsibilities like it was me.

I didn't get my own tv until i could prove I can keep my room clean, clothes away, bed made without being instructed to do so.
I didn't get my own PC until I proved I could do all the above, dishes, cook and do laundry without being instructed.

No ownership in being responsible, no technology that needs to be respected and be responsible for either.
 
Squall_Rinoa89 said:
My step children have no access to shit like this.

No tablet, unless for school work related
No Phone because.. if you cant pay for it.. you cant have it.
No computers or laptops. Because being responsible proves you can be responsible with tech imo of which both the 9 and 11yr old have proven they cant be.
No gaming systems because again.. responsibilities comes first.

Everything in my house is from responsibilities like it was me.

I didn't get my own tv until i could prove I can keep my room clean, clothes away, bed made without being instructed to do so.
I didn't get my own PC until I proved I could do all the above, dishes, cook and do laundry without being instructed.

No ownership in being responsible, no technology that needs to be respected and be responsible for either.
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wow... had no idea we had heads of state on the forum. how's north korea doing Mr. Kim Jong-Un? Im sure there is a foster family out there somewhere that could give your kids a happy life.
 
Squall_Rinoa89 said:
My step children have no access to shit like this.

No tablet, unless for school work related
No Phone because.. if you cant pay for it.. you cant have it.
No computers or laptops. Because being responsible proves you can be responsible with tech imo of which both the 9 and 11yr old have proven they cant be.
No gaming systems because again.. responsibilities comes first.

Everything in my house is from responsibilities like it was me.

I didn't get my own tv until i could prove I can keep my room clean, clothes away, bed made without being instructed to do so.
I didn't get my own PC until I proved I could do all the above, dishes, cook and do laundry without being instructed.

No ownership in being responsible, no technology that needs to be respected and be responsible for either.
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You just made me feel so thankful to have had the parents i did and not be born under you.

This is what a modern day version of little house on the prairie would start with for opening credits.
 
Hisshadow said:
wow... had no idea we had heads of state on the forum. how's north korea doing Mr. Kim Jong-Un? Im sure there is a foster family out there somewhere that could give your kids a happy life.
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oh lulz yeah, heyy how are you Mr. Kim Jong-Un!!? :D

i on the other hand was spoiled rotten to the possible end of the spoiledoom hell and it was pretty fucking great lol :D
 
Squall_Rinoa89 said:
My step children have no access to shit like this.

No tablet, unless for school work related
No Phone because.. if you cant pay for it.. you cant have it.
No computers or laptops. Because being responsible proves you can be responsible with tech imo of which both the 9 and 11yr old have proven they cant be.
No gaming systems because again.. responsibilities comes first.

Everything in my house is from responsibilities like it was me.

I didn't get my own tv until i could prove I can keep my room clean, clothes away, bed made without being instructed to do so.
I didn't get my own PC until I proved I could do all the above, dishes, cook and do laundry without being instructed.

No ownership in being responsible, no technology that needs to be respected and be responsible for either.
Click to expand...

I'm all for teaching responsibility. I probably take that concept further than most here. However this reads less like teaching responsibility and more like you hate your step kids. Also I'm sorry your childhood was apparently miserable.
 
Squall_Rinoa89 said:
My step children have no access to shit like this.

No tablet, unless for school work related
No Phone because.. if you cant pay for it.. you cant have it.
No computers or laptops. Because being responsible proves you can be responsible with tech imo of which both the 9 and 11yr old have proven they cant be.
No gaming systems because again.. responsibilities comes first.

Everything in my house is from responsibilities like it was me.

I didn't get my own tv until i could prove I can keep my room clean, clothes away, bed made without being instructed to do so.
I didn't get my own PC until I proved I could do all the above, dishes, cook and do laundry without being instructed.

No ownership in being responsible, no technology that needs to be respected and be responsible for either.
Click to expand...


I agree it's called personal responsibility, self discipline, learning the value of a dollar.

The entitled, spoiled snowflakes don't understand this concept.
 
chenw said:
I don't think anyone on this thread is arguing that kids shouldn't have phones period, but rather smartphones only. Your example would be the "OK" part (dumb phone until a certain age).
Click to expand...
I am. :)

No 10 year old needs a cellphone IMO. Get a free "landline" internet phone for the home (I use ooma), that you have control over with logs and can listen to by picking up any headset in the house. You can pair them to your bluetooth phone for when you are home, which is convenient.
 
RickyJ said:
One of my best friends and his wife refuse electronic toys for their 4 year old son. They both went through elec/comp engineering with me, so they're not luddites, they just know the risks. Her mom is retired and stays with them for daycare. Little dude runs around and plays with cars and Duplo like any healthy kid.

Another good friend's 4-year old son screeches like a banshee when he can't watch Thomas the Tank Engine on mom's phone whenever he demands it. It's been the babysitter while mom does other stuff.

Two approaches, two completely expected results.
Click to expand...

It's not the phone. It's the lack of parenting. I have a kid. He has a tablet with parent approved stuff on it. He plays like a normal kid and asks to go to the park to run his face off and plays with normal toys constantly. He gets quality time with mom and/or dad, and day care is the grandparents who love him to bits and interact with him a lot. While he likes his tablet, it is a fun toy amongst many fun things to do, and he often chooses to do other things than play with it. Some people use technology to ignore their kids and thus have created an environment where the tablet/phone is the most (possibly only) fun thing in the kid's life. This has negative consequences.
 
mullet said:
I agree it's called personal responsibility, self discipline, learning the value of a dollar.

The entitled, spoiled snowflakes don't understand this concept.
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yes well, i didnt impose ask or demanded to be born so the responsibility was all theirs. hmph!
 
It's not just kids, it's everyone, and it's fucking disturbing.

Go to a restaurant... take a look around at how many people are actually conversing with the ones at their table.
 
My 10yo son doesn't have a smartphone (yet), he does have a Samsung Note 4 10" tablet which he uses for games and media. No social media at all.

Thing is, pretty much all his friends already have smartphones. Many of them have last generation premium phones like iphone 6 and Galaxy S5, S6, Note, etc which they "inherited" when their parents upgraded to a new premium phone.

As you might imagine its incresingly difficult to explain why he can't have a phone or social media when everyone else does.
 
The poster who said that there are benefits he didn't even expect was right.

Here is how I see it:

I would much rather my kids spend 1-2 hours a day playing educational games / reading apps and interactive stories than straight up staring at the TV with a billion commercials.
Tablet experience is so interactive vs. just watching something. Kids are learning all kinds of good things. I see tablet usage as WAY more productive than my childhood being babysat stuck in the house for hours each day, my mind rotting staring at disney movies like my parents did to me (I'm pretty sure I can quote almost every line in any of those movies word for word... yes this was probably child abuse.)

The key is to take the time to make sure that they only have mind stimulating and productive apps, and locking down anything else they shouldn't have access to. Also yes... for heavens sake make sure your kids go outside every day and run around.
 
Ducman69 said:
I am. :)

No 10 year old needs a cellphone IMO. Get a free "landline" internet phone for the home (I use ooma), that you have control over with logs and can listen to by picking up any headset in the house. You can pair them to your bluetooth phone for when you are home, which is convenient.
Click to expand...

Why the fuck would I want a landine? What is this the 1990's? I literally haven't had a landline my entire adult life once I moved out. It costs me nothing to have an additional line on my current plan and the phone my daughter uses is one that I upgraded out of. It would actually cost me more in equipment to downgrade her to a landline not to mention be completely useless when she isn't in the house which is pretty often since we live in the country. Her next phone will also likely be a smart phone just because that is what my wife and I have and one of us is bound to upgrade at some point. Should I just throw the phone away? or should I oh I don't know perhaps do something useful with it? We don't upgrade often so it isn't like that phone will be worth reselling. Hell I doubt either her GS3 or my GNexus are worth more than about $30 on ebay at this point. Now would I buy a 10 year old a new iphone or top end android? Oh fuck no..but this landline bullshit is just laughable.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Why the fuck would I want a landine? What is this the 1990's?
Click to expand...
"Landline" is what I said, followed by internet phone, as in Voice over IP. It also costs you nothing, is way cheaper (and often free) for international calls, you can have a phone in every room that also pairs with your cellphone (personally, I can't hear my cellphone on the other side of the house), and mainly because I don't believe that children should have their own phone number that I can't monitor or would use outside the house without my supervision, or even be on the internet on their own or have their own email for that matter.

Teens, absolutely, little kids, no way. I think its wrong, but its not my kid, just voicing my opinion.
 
Ducman69 said:
"Landline" is what I said, followed by internet phone, as in Voice over IP. It also costs you nothing, is way cheaper (and often free) for international calls, you can have a phone in every room that also pairs with your cellphone (personally, I can't hear my cellphone on the other side of the house), and mainly because I don't believe that children should have their own phone number that I can't monitor or would use outside the house without my supervision, or even be on the internet on their own or have their own email for that matter.

Teens, absolutely, little kids, no way. I think its wrong, but its not my kid, just voicing my opinion.
Click to expand...

It most certainly costs me something as it is equipment I don't currently own. Also I nor my family make any international calls so that isn't a feature I care about. I'm not sure what you are talking about on not being able to monitor a kids phone just because they have their own number. I have a ton of tools that allow me to monitor all her calls, texts and web browsing if I gave her a smart phone. I am literally able to keep far better tabs on everything is doing by her having a phone than I am without it. Like I originally said, I swore up and down for years my kids would never have a phone but that was based on outdated thinking of a bygone era of technology. Now that she has one it just simply makes parenting her when she isn't inside the house vastly easier. That said even with all those tools she is still a kid. At a certain point of the evening she has to physically hand me the phone. I know far more about her interactions than I would without it.
 
Ducman69 said:
"Landline" is what I said, followed by internet phone, as in Voice over IP. It also costs you nothing, is way cheaper (and often free) for international calls, you can have a phone in every room that also pairs with your cellphone (personally, I can't hear my cellphone on the other side of the house), and mainly because I don't believe that children should have their own phone number that I can't monitor or would use outside the house without my supervision, or even be on the internet on their own or have their own email for that matter.

Teens, absolutely, little kids, no way. I think its wrong, but its not my kid, just voicing my opinion.
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I hear ya, but this battle is over. Kids are exposed to mobile devices at very young ages and some of the links I've looked at indicate they've got their own device by 5 or 6 years (1 said 4). At this point, a smart phone is their entertainment hub, just like a video game console was for kids in the 80s (and some well healed kids in the 70s).
 
necrosis said:
What moronic parents give their kids a smart phone. Hell a phone period.
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Looking at our WiFi portal....damn near all of them. We're having to invest in more APs per room, because all the damned cell phones are dragging down wifi performance for everyone.
 
I saw this retarded kid with his face glued on to his smart phone, slowly passing by me while I was filling up my truck, so I put my lit cigarette down, finished my whiskey, and threw at im the emty bottle. THat should teach im from facbooking on his wheelchare.

Terrible joke aside, yeah I've seen kids on their tablets or phones all day. Some can't afford or no one is willing to babysit them, the best way to get them occupied so that parents can go on their way is unfortunately through these devices.
 
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