Latest Expert Witness News

Children Treated For Addiction To Phones

Two Spanish children are being treated for addiction to their mobile phones - and the clinic says it could take up to a year for them to recover.

The children, aged 12 and 13, were admitted to a clinic in Lleida, north east Spain, by their parents who discovered they were unable to do anything without their phones.

Apparently, the youngsters were spending up to six hours a day on the phones, which left them failing at school and unable to carry on with normal life.

Both children had their phones for 18 months and the parents did not monitor their useage or realise how much money - which they got from other relatives - they were spending.

The children apparently went to different members of the family to get extra cash and even used money intended for school lunches on buying top-ups.

Opinion is divided as to whether or not children this young can be addicted.

Child psychologists in the UK say the use is not so much addictive as habitual - but whatever the correct medical terminology, there is no doubt that young people are very attached to their phones.

Some psychologists believe the mobile is the modern day equivalent of a comfort blanket or dummy for the young adolescent.

Constant contact with their friends reinforces their feelings of worth - they are popular and therefore successful, the experts explain, although there could be a downside if the phone doesn't ring.

back