Giving your child a smartphone is like “giving them a gram of cocaine”, a top addiction therapist has warned.
Time spent messaging friends on Snapchat and Instagram can be just as
dangerously addictive for teenagers as drugs and alcohol, and should be
treated as such, school leaders and teachers were told at an education
conference in London.
Speaking alongside experts in technology addiction and adolescent
development, Harley Street rehab clinic specialist Mandy Saligari said
screen time was too often overlooked as a potential vehicle for
addiction in young people.
“I always say to people, when you’re giving your kid a tablet or a
phone, you’re really giving them a bottle of wine or a gram of coke,”
she said.
“Are you really going to leave them to knock the whole thing out on their own behind closed doors?
“Why do we pay so much less attention to those things than we do to
drugs and alcohol when they work on the same brain impulses?”
Her comments follow news that children as young as 13 are being treated for digital technology
– with a third of British children aged 12-15 admitting they do not
have a good balance between screen time and other activities.
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