Who’s Really to Blame Here?

We want kids to be kids - to get outside, breathe fresh air, get messy, climb, jump, create, explore, and nourish their bodies and minds with restful sleep so their mental health won’t be as wrecked as ours.

By Featured Writer, Roxie Key.

7.00am – Your phone alarm goes off. You swipe it off, then check WhatsApp before you’ve even fully opened your eyes.

7.10am – You check your notifications and news app, bleary-eyed on the toilet. You have a brief screen break while showering, but only because you have to.

7.30am – You have your breakfast in front of the TV, phone in hand.

8.00am – You listen to your playlist, audiobook or podcast on the drive to work. You resist the temptation to check your notifications at the traffic lights.

9.00am – You sit at your desk and work on a screen all morning, barely moving.

12.00pm – You eat your lunch at your desk, doomscrolling on your phone. Maybe you even flick through a few pages on your e-reader.

1.00pm – You sit at your desk, having worked on a screen all morning, barely moving. The afternoon mirrors the same.

5.00pm – You listen to your playlist, audiobook or podcast on the drive home. You resist the temptation to check your notifications at the traffic lights.

6.00pm – You head home for dinner and eat in front of the TV. You scroll your way through the kids’ bedtimes.

8.00pm – You watch more TV, but you don’t really watch because you’re doomscrolling at the same time.

10.00pm – You head to bed to read your e-reader, but actually spend more time scrolling. Your eyes protest at the screen, but you fight it. One more reel, one more meme, one more, one more, one more…

11.30pm – You eventually pick up your e-reader and manage a few pages. But your eyes hate every second.

12.00am – You pass out from the sheer exhaustion of doing nothing but scrolling, swiping, staring…

And we think our kids are the ones who are addicted to screens, who consume too much digital content.

We want kids to be kids - to get outside, breathe fresh air, get messy, climb, jump, create, explore, and nourish their bodies and minds with restful sleep so their mental health won’t be as wrecked as ours.

But they won’t do that if we simply scroll past their childhoods, swipe past their questions, and watch them grow up through the lens of our phones.

Most of us are guilty of this…

But we all have the ability to break the cycle.

And we all have the capacity for change.

So, let’s change - for the sake of our mental health, and that of the generation who follow in our footsteps.