In this generation, technology runs our world. Parents are giving their children access to technology like smartphones or tablets at a young age, and that has some consequences. Using these devices are hurting people’s social skills and leaving them feeling alone.

Have you ever been so lonely you sit in your room and you surf your social media profiles until you forget why you were so lonely? Many children isolate themselves when kids have access to technology, making them more lonely and it’s a continuous cycle. If children are always having screen-time, they are never obtaining crucial social skills that require human contact.  “Children and teenagers spend more than seven-and-a-half-hours a day interacting with a screen of some sort,” Uhls said. The typical school day is six-and-a-half hours long. This means kids are having more screen-time than academic time.

“You can’t learn non-verbal emotional cues from a screen in the way you can learn it from face-to-face communication,” Uhls said. I’m not saying smartphones are a bad thing but, what has happened to human contact in even the simplest of situations? Children used to sit, one on one, with teachers, but now programs like “ABCmouse.com” are literally taking away the humans interactions, and teaching kids that, that is the norm to be stuck in front of a screen. “Many people are looking at the benefits of digital media in education, and not many are looking at the costs,” said Patricia M. Greenfield. Online programming which requires the use of electronics, is replacing the personal factor.

“The definition I go with is that it has to be something you enjoy doing in the short term, that undermines your well-being in the long term — but that you do compulsively anyway” Claudia Dreifus. When children have access to devices, they have no concept of what the long term impact will be if they continue to be so attached. Many social media companies say they aren’t purposely trying to create screen addicts, but they do want you using their product as much as you can which seems as if it’s an oxymoron.  

We aren’t suggesting you take away your child’s electronic devices, but you should be aware of the everlasting consequences. Later in life, your child may have trouble communicating person to person because they weren’t taught early on.