Host of Channel 10’s The Project, Carrie Bickmore, has revealed that she refused to cave in to pressure to give her son a phone when he was 12.
On Tuesday evening, The Project hosts spoke with a young man who’d battled a screen addiction and discussed the perceived appropriate age to let your child use technology.
Canberra mother Cathy MacMaster and her son Will spoke of Will’s experience with technology, saying he spent a lot of nights in primary school on his iPad and even turned to drugs as a result.
“My brain was very active at night so it was harder to get to sleep,” Will said.
Cathy said her son faced mental health issues as early as year 8.
“We found it really hard and being the first generation of parents that have had to try and manage kids and screens it was very difficult,” she said.
“I wish I’d realised that Will had a screen addiction at such a young age.”
Bickmore said she felt an “immense pressure” for her son not to be the only child his age without a phone when she denied him one in his younger years.
“We can say no,” she said, saying her now 15-year-old Ollie once differed from his already teched-up peers.
“Now he’s obviously addicted like all the children, but we delayed it.
“We waited a few more years until he was a bit older.”
“You wouldn’t just give them drugs and say, ‘There you go’. There’s something different about it.”
Co-host Waleed Aly agreed, saying there was continuing pressure on parents to hand over electronic devices in case their kids were in situations like catching public transport alone.
“It’s our problem,” he said.
“They’re weak arguments.”
KIIS FM presenter Kate Langbroek agreed and said parents needed to “be better” to avoid sharing the risks of technology with their children.
“The second that you give your child a phone you lose your child,” Ms Langbroek said.
“You lose a part of them, so it’s like when do you want to lose your child?
“Do you want to lose them at two because they can’t sit through dinner without an iPad?
“We’ve got to toughen up as parents, we’ve just got to be better.”
Black Dog Institute research has found a rise in depression rates among adolescents, with sleep quality, physical activity, parental involvement and social interactions contributing factors.
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