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Children Listen to Smartphones more than Parents | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Children with phones and tablets in their bedrooms. Reuters


Cologne (Germany)- A survey conducted by the Ipsos Research Institute showed that the majority of Germans asserted that electronic devices would have more influence on children than on parents in the future.

Most importantly, children themselves admitted that smartphones will be more important than parents in the future.

According to the survey, 58 percent of Germans believe that future children will listen more to electronic devices than parents; and 55 percent said that schools, teachers, politicians and priests would lose their status in the eyes of the children compared to the impact of the mobile phone.

In the same survey, 60 percent of young people aged 14-24 said they expect the influence of mobile phones on children to outweigh the influence of parents. Only 41 percent said the impact of teachers and schools would be weakened by mobile phone influence.

However, a researcher urged people not to be afraid of the survey’s results, pointing out that parents, family, and friends will always remain the most effective environment for the child. He said that parents, brothers, sisters and friends are always available for him, which is a very important advantage.

He added that losing their status in front of the new generation is not something new for the youth’s circles and schools.

In response to a question about the impact of technology on children in 1997, only 33 percent of Germans believed that electronic devices would outweigh the family’s influence on children.

The German press described the results of the survey as shocking, and reminded of another alarming study of the Pikk-Media project, which included several thousand German schoolchildren from both genders, published a year ago.

This study showed that 60 percent of children failed to resist the temptation to use their devices for more than 30 minutes. Doctors called for more scientific studies on this phenomenon, and criticized weak government support for such studies.