Electronics are something that many underage kids are using nowadays, but they are misused by many.
While parents give their kids phones thinking it is helping them digest new things, that is not always the case. Parents think the kids are listening to alphabet songs or learning how to count. What many of them don’t know is there are other social media apps that kids are on. They are learning inappropriate words at a young age.
For example, I have been noticing young kids on the app called TikTok lip-syncing to songs that are not proper for their age. I have younger siblings who are on that app, and sometimes they scroll through the wrong videos. Yes, the internet has taught my siblings a lot of good things like nursery songs, but they can easily get distracted by other things. It is important for us to be aware of this, and take action. We should be always checking and keeping an eye on what the kids are up to. Listen to the way they are talking and what is it that they are talking about, are there any changes in the way they act? Where are they getting these pieces of information from? We can sit down and ask the kids what new things they have learned, and educate them on right and wrong.
Kids are the ones that will run the future, and we want a better future. We want to teach them what is right and what is wrong. Maybe next time when the kids are upset instead of handing them a phone, hand them a crayon and a colouring book and spend a little time teaching them yourselves, instead of relying on the online world and the tiny device with way too much information.
Urmila Khanal,
UPEI student,
Charlottetown
