Kids battle technology dependence in lockdown

One Sydney father, who asked to be anonymous, said his 13-year-old son had recently developed a habit of watching TV shows on Netflix while also gaming, and gets very agitated if his parents ask him to stop doing both at once. His seven-year-old daughter watches YouTube and goes into a “deep grump” for half an hour when she stops.

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“When we call a day off screens, we end up going through hell,” he said. “It looks a lot like addiction.”

Jocelyn Brewer, a Sydney psychologist who specialises in digital wellbeing, said it was only accurate to call it “addiction” in really significant cases, but there was definitely an increase in habitual usage, and she expected an influx of clients.

Ms Brewer said technology including communications and gaming was compelling because it met many of children’s psychological needs - connection with others, developing competence and discovering their strengths.

Ms Brewer said that was not a good thing if the children were only getting it online.

“What I do with kids in therapy is look for sources of connection, competence and control in the offline worlds as well,” she said.

“We know that you can feel really, really confident doing lots of things in Roblox but can you do that in the playground? Can you do that in handball? Can you do that in maths? So it’s about mimicking that back in ‘real life’.”

Another mother said she had screen locks on the iPads before lockdown but lost control because she had to remove them so her children could access Google Classroom.

“My son is usually very active and we’ve noticed he’s become much more despondent about going to the beach, using the pool in our complex or even meeting friends, preferring instead to remain hooked to the screen,” she said.

“My kindy girl meanwhile switches her screen to watch mindless dribble of ‘perfect’ Barbie and is already displaying signs of lack of confidence in her appearance and weight.”

Anna from Northcote in Melbourne, who asked to use her first name only, said her six-year-old son gravitates to his iPad and sometimes plays on it before she gets up in the morning.

“I’m concerned about the effect on his attention span and imagination but I wouldn’t say there’s any particular occasions where I’ve been completely alarmed,” she said. “We’re trying to wind it back and he’s getting into reading.”

Sarah Cohen from Lewisham in the inner west said her six-year-old son, who has ADHD, was getting aggressive when it’s time to finish on the iPad, so she has resorted to pretending it is lost.

“I feel a bit of guilt but it’s been a good thing for him - it’s really just eliminated so much of the conflict and calmed down with his aggression, Ms Cohen said. “He is more interested in his toys and puzzles, he is more interested in interaction with us.”

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