A nurse is concerned about a trend in the United States: parents waiting for their child to celebrate their 14the birthday to give him a smartphone.
“Scientifically, it’s not a good thing to do,” Melanie Hempe told Fox News. It is not desirable from a health perspective to give your child a phone in eighth grade (secondary 2). The risks do not outweigh the benefits.”
“We cannot afford to continue to make mistakes,” added the woman who also founded ScreenStrong, an organization that fights to limit screen time among young people. This is not beautiful. This should not be taken lightly. This is serious, and we should not rely on a nursery rhyme to raise our children.”
Melanie Hempe pointed out that mental health issues are very prevalent among adolescents, so now would not be the ideal time to offer a smartphone with access to social networks.
Adolescents “take higher risks before the frontal cortex, the judgment center of their brain, is developed,” said Melanie Hempe. Their emotional center therefore develops before the frontal cortex or the reasoning center.
“They’re looking for more provocative content,” she continued (…) “Algorithms come into play and they’re exposed to the worst content of the moment at the most vulnerable and (…) impressionable stage of their development.”
Vulnerability
Ms. Hempe also found that young people aged 14 to 18 are at the peak of their sexual interest and are more prone to addictive behavior.
“We are giving our children one of the most powerful dopaminergic devices during the most vulnerable stages of development, when their guard is at its lowest,” she argued.
Melanie Hempe would like the age to get a smartphone to be 18.
