They say that the truth comes out of the children’s mouth, and that truth is sometimes more distressing than we realize. Jen Adams Beason, a 2nd-grade teacher from Louisiana, witnessed this when she asked her students to write about an invention that they didn’t like, or an invention that they wish would have never seen the light of day.
Jen has 21 students, and she was absolutely heartbroken when she noticed that four of her pupils shared the same invention: the smartphone.
It’s no secret that smartphones can control our lives in ways that we can’t even always imagine. With dozens of notifications from apps, emails, and social media updates, it could be hard not to look at your phone for longer than five minutes.
Unfortunately, children seem to realize this as well as they’re witnessing the phone addictions of their parents first-hand.
Jen shared one of her pupil’s essays on her Facebook page, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking to read. Jen teaches in the second grade and these children are between seven and eight years old.
“Tell me about an invention that you don’t like,” is being asked. “Why?”
“If I had to tell you what invention I don’t like, I would say that I don’t like the phone.”
“I don’t like the phone because my [parents] are on their phone every day. A phone is sometimes a really bad [habit].”
“I hate my mom’s phone and I wish she never had one. That is [an] invention that I don’t like.”
It’s a simple essay just like this one that makes us realize that we can have the urge to spend way too much time on our phones and in our digital world, instead of what’s going on in our real lives. The writing essay is even accompanied by a sad and angry smiley face saying “I hate it”, looking at a drawn phone with a cross through it.
“I had my 2nd graders write about an invention that they wish had never been created. Out of 21 sutdents, 4 of them wrote about this topic. #getoffyourphone #listentoyourkids,” teacher Jen posted on her Facebook wall.
The teacher has since taken her post offline, but her message was seen by millions.
In fact, it was even shared 300,000 times and the post received dozens of eye-opening comments.
“That is so sad and convicting. Great reminder for us all to put those phones down and engage with our kids more,” one person said.
“Wow. Out of the mouths of [children]! We are all guilty!” Tracy Jenkins posted.
Jen’s post was also seen by other teachers, who shared their own experiences talking about the subject in class.
“We had a class discussion about Facebook and every single one of the students said their parents spend more time on Facebook then they do talking to their child. It was very eye-opening for me,” fellow teacher Abbey Fauntleroy wrote.
Luckily, it seems that awareness about smartphone addiction is increasing, but there’s still a long way to go. Both iPhones and smartphones running on a recent Android operating system will soon include features to monitor, control and restrict your personal smartphone use for your own health.
Nonetheless, it’s interesting to see that parents’ concerns about their children becoming addicted to smartphones and other smart devices, is also perfectly valid the other way around.
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