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Stop Feeding Your Children With Digital Rubbish
Some of the content online these days won’t help any child
On January 1, 2025, I traveled to my hometown, at least five hours (by car) away from Accra.
I had to endure the bus ride — cramped in the back seat with my knee threatening to explode. But that wasn’t the worst part of my journey. Nor was it the dust from the occasional dusty stretches on the way.
My biggest trouble was from the fellow travelers in the seat just before mine — two ladies (probably siblings) and a child of about three years old.
To keep the little girl entertained/distracted/alive, these ladies took turns spoon-feeding her the content from their social media feeds. And that got me irritated.
Social media is no soothing balm for a crying infant
I’ve traveled with adults who had toddlers and infants along, and I admit it’s sometimes difficult to keep these little ones from crying. You can’t legislate away the standard tantrum when they get frustrated.
But I also know whipping out your smartphone, going online, scrolling endlessly, and taking in every drip of video content with your child isn’t the best solution. I fought to bite my tongue on our bus ride.
