Parental Influences

Examples for Future Generations

Today’s youth is often criticized for using our phones too often or even electronics in general. The truth is that the youth are not the only ones overusing their phones. It may be overlooked but adults can use their phones almost as much as the children they condemn about using their phones.

These days phones can be used to talk, text, play games, and keep in contact with other people through social media. It is easy to see people doing these things on a regular basis but there are many other things you can do with phones these days. Parents use their phones for everything, they almost control their lives. Not only do they do things their children do but they also use their phones for their work. Because they can stay in contact with everything they need for work on their phone, they put more time into using their phones. Many times, instead of talking to people while they are eating or in a group setting, you can see parents so focused on their phones that they don’t even know people are talking to them.

Parents see the phone as the ultimate utility and have a need to be using it at all times. It is easy to become distracted from your surroundings. This is a major problem we have today. Many believe that we need to have more one on one contact or all faith in humanity is lost. According to the Pew Research Internet Project, 90 percent of adults have a phone. Fifty-eight percent of adults have a smart phone. This statistic mean that at any point during the day over half of the adult population could be consumed with what they are working on with their smart phones. Almost 94 percent of adults aged 35 to 54 have a cell phone. This means that the average parent of a teenager has a cellphone.

I find that it can be easy to get a person off their phone. Most of the time you are able to ask the person politely to put down their phones and they will listen.

Adults may find their work on their phones more important than what is around them. Because of all the things they can do on their phones it is hard for them to stay engaged with other activities through out the day. Like how teens want to feel like other people by copying other people, adults can try to feel younger by participating in cell phone use. Parents try to fit in with the younger population by texting. In a test done by Steiner Adair, they interviewed 1000 children between 4-18, many children called their parents phones stupid phones. They said that when their parents use their phones it makes them feel sad, mad, angry, and lonely. Some children took their parents phones and hid them so they could spend more time with their parents.

All of these phones don’t just distract parents from paying attention to their children. They can feel that their phone is so important that they need to use it when they are driving. This constant need to use their phone puts not only themselves at risk, but their children at risk as well. A study done by the AAA Foundation for traffic safety found that adults are more likely to text and drive than teens. According to the study 82 percent of adults ages 25-39 admitted to using their phones while driving and 72 percent of adults ages 40-59 admitted to using their cell phones while driving.

A study done by the Boston Medical Center looked at 55 families at a fast food restaurant. Forty of the fifty-five families showed that the parents were more absorbed in their phones than the children. Children who have parents that are absorbed in their phones are more likely to act out in an unhealthy way to try and get their parents attention. Because of the parents they are creating unhealthy habits and environments for their children.

Parents are setting an example for the next generation. Face to face interaction is one of the main ways that children learn. Parents need to set a better example so they can save future generations, keep others out of danger, and create a more social future.