Kids are now being recognized for phone addiction. According to research, many teenagers aren’t very socialized to their peers because at least 50% of teenagers feel addicted to their phone and prefer to stay socialized by phone. Many children with an addiction to their phone affect their eyesight, sleep, and posture due to an early start of watching the screens of the device.

Children are learning how to use cell phones and receiving their own at a younger age than ever before. Since teenagers have grown up in an era where cell phone use has been ingrained in them at such a vulnerable age, they are very susceptible to developing an addiction to their smartphones and social media. Many children that are addicted to their phones spend less time playing outside with friends or attend any after-school activities.

Apple has announced that they are working on new ways on protecting from smartphone addiction. Apple started a panel of experts, where they will partner with experts for further research and offering parents new tools and options. A spokesperson from Apple quoted “If there are grown-up apps that allow you to remotely start your car, watch for potential house break-ins and pick-out a great Cabernet, why can’t there be more functional apps to manage or monitor your kid’s device usage?”

According to Michael Bociurkiw, a reporter from CNN quoted, “I drew a gasp from the audience with some pretty scary research findings on children who utilize tablets at an early age. Two-year-olds using tablets are having problems concentrating, showing empathy and even difficulty reading facial expressions but depression and obesity are also being attributed to immersion in screens. The situation is especially acute in low-income families, where more than half of babies aged two are using smartphones and tablets.”

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