A Generation Ruined with Smartphones- Smartphone Addiction is Equal to Drug Addiiction Warns an Addiction expert

 A Top Addiction Therapist warns the parents of young children and Teens that usage of Smart phones is equal to drugs. As smart phones are leading to addiction among the young group.

Time spent messaging friends on snapchat and instagram can be just as dangerously addictive for teenagers as drugs and alcohol, and should not be treated as such, school leaders and teachers were told at an education conference in London.

One of the rehab clinic specialist said that screen time was too often overlooked as a potential vehicle for addiction in young people , always say to people while handing over the smartphones or a tablet it's like you are giving them a bottle of wine or a gram of cocaine. she said.

When we know that the same damage  is caused with the smartphone equally to drugs on the brain impusles  then why are paying so less attention to this as parents?

Are you really going to leave them to knock the whole thing out on their own behind the closed doors?

People when then look at addiction, their eyes tend to be on the substance or a thing only-But no it's actually the pattern of behaviour that can manifest itself in a number of different ways like food obsessions, self harm, and sexting as examples.

Concern has grown when young children seen to be sending or recieving ponographic images, or accessing age inapprporaite content online through their devices.

A senior therepist who is treating and heads the clinic in London says around 2/3rds of her patients were 16-20 years old for addiction and there is a dramatic increase in the past ten years but she says many of her patients were even younger.

Recently, there was a survey conducted more than 1,500 teachers had taken part in it, around 2/3rds said that they were aware of their students sharing sexual content, with as many as one in six of those six involved of primary school age.

In the past three years around 2,000 children have been reported to police for crimes linked to indecent images.

when therapists asked the clients aged 13 -14 who were involved in sexting and they described sexting as normal.

And many girls believed that sending nude pics of themselves to someone is absolutely normal but an adult or a parent finds it out its it's wrong. she added.

But, if the children are taught self respect from a very young age they are less likely to exploit themselves in that way. It' s an issue of self-respect and it's an issue of identity.

The therapists, The psychiatrist and The Addiction Lead said that the issue was a growing area of interest for reserchers, as parents report struggling to find the correct balance for their children.

It is getting difficult for the parent's of 12-15 years age group to control the childs screen time.

school should educate the children how to self-regulate, so we're not policing them and telling them exactly what to do..