I've just seen the most depressing thing

absolutely your parent status has no bearing on the fact that you felt depressed seeing a really young kid in that situation -

anyone should be able to see that was not OK !!

anyone that can’t see it, has their own screen addiction blindspot to address

And silently judging helps this how?

and yet, people disagree about the "not that long ago" children should be seen but not heard and what was commonly accepted that it's not before.

the kid would be looking around soaking up the people talking and interacting
as you have children yourself, how long will a child genuinely do that for? Really? 😂

It’s not good parenting but it’s also not abusive. In reality, a lot of daily parenting falls into this grey area, for many reasons.

Using the phone when we are on our knees in the easy win / comfort is it the sting in its tail

phones / apps are designed to be addictive- they are built using the psychology behind casinos

they create anxiety, irritability, fatigue and get in the way of healthy functional ways of managing overwhelm

the wireless etc you reference were not built to be addictive

yes screens are omnipresent
that is why we have to be selective about the exposure our kids are subjected to -

when something is addictive, our brains will always find a good reason / excuse to get another dose -

Coming to the end of 6 weeks of summer doing 99.9% of childcare on my own 24/7, I'd also love to be spitting bile at the father in this example. But I've had days where I've caved into demands for my phone to get a bit more sleep or just a few minutes thinking time to retain some semblance of sanity and continue to care for my child without completely burning out. Which, ultimately, is the better option.

No, we shouldn't give kids phones, but try living in a world where they are omnipresent and not. Most of the posters here are talking about 'when my children were young...' Yeah, and when previous generations had kids they didn't let their kids watch tv/listen to the wireless/gramaphone/read books other than the bible. Because these things weren't readily available. Playing out in the street with a gang of mates was though, which is virtually a non-existent concept now. Try it and see how long it takes for someone to criticise your negligent parenting.

This man may or may not be a generally shit parent, you don't know, you saw him for half an hour in a cafe.

But there is an ocean of difference between being the perfect parent - which of course does not exist - and being the person who won’t say it’s not OK to sit with your child and facilitate the pouring of IG reels into to their brain…

we are talking about such a low bar here,
it should not be controversial for anyone: parent or not to say that’s just not right -

we should be doing better, and we can and not that long ago, we were doing better by default - before the screen addiction that dad would probably be giving the kid a few crayons and a scrap of paper, or the kid would be looking around soaking up the people talking and interacting, annoying the dad with the why questions 😂 having a fidget and learning that sometimes you gotta sit still and be bored when you don’t want to - you know the normal child development stuff -
the kind of development that is stunted by the screen …..

again - read the anxious generation -
it explains why our kids are screwed and so many parents are fighting to get their kids support that is not going to fix the problem

Can you answer what is the reason for not answering whether or not you have children? You are allowed an opinion even if you dont have kids.

Totally disheartening and very sad for all involved. Schools are in the thick of having to help children with impaired oral language ability, poor motor skills and the very short attention span of screen addicted children.

You don't need to be a parent to see a massive issue which is on the rise due to devices in the hands of young children. Society as a whole needs to turn this around.

It's easier to be a perfect parent when you don't have kids yourself to be fair.

OP you are SO right !!
so if someone does not have children they can’t be an effective midwife, educator, health professional, sociologist, etc etc etc

you have hit a societal raw nerve !!

asking you a question is not making an assumption, asking you a question is trying to avoid making assumptions...

HTH

no, if you don't have children yourself, you cannot come and tell us "you are doing it wrong, it's outrageous, I would never do this and that". A good parent would ONLY do this.

There are plenty of us who do have children of varying ages who absolutely agree with you
that it's likely a parent would genuinely ignore a 3 year old choking on their food? really?

The OP is not being targeted, troll hunted and bullied., the OP started a thread and invited people to express their opinion.

But it does affect you when more and kids and young people have mental illness fuelled by screen addixtion

maybe kids in your family ? Or kids needing precious resources taking time and attention away from your kids in the classroom

or all the nhs appointment time lost to increasingly mental health problems

A+E’s / ambulances / social services all affected by increasing rates of mental illness, school refusal, self harm, body dysphoria,
poor social behaviour or difficulty to function in the real world, increasing need for benefits
etc

this is affecting all of us

You absolute are bullying the OP. And it's absolute bollocks that you can't have an opinion unless you've had kids. Yes there are many scenarios in which you get a much greater insight and understanding, eg why a kid doesn't just do as they're told first time but you really DONT need to be a parent to have an opinion about zero interaction and using a screen to occupy a v young child for an entire cafe visit.

OP, I really don't think this thread can continue in a positive way. There are plenty of us who do have children of varying ages who absolutely agree with you (far more, I suspect than you might think) but the current mantra of "don't judge" seems to be more important than a societal shift that is damaging to all of us. However, you are being targeted, troll hunted and bullied. It's perfectly acceptable to both report and leave the thread.

Reading the book the anxious generation should be given out as mandatory reading when parents register their kids birth !!

phone addicted parents raising phone addicted children is so TOXIC - and the defenders on this thread show the huge blindspot to this …

i despair !!

The dad dumping instagram reels into his young child’s brain is an arsehole for doing it, but the scariest thing is he and so many others can’t see this as the problem that it is !!

Edited to remove it wanted to post twice.