Some toddlers have access to mobile phones for multiple hours daily, which could be because phones can serve as an effective distraction for young children. However, in my opinion, this is a negative development as staring at a screen for a long period of time can lead to nearsightedness.
Young children often require more attention and care from their parents as they are still undergoing physical and mental development. Particularly with toddlers, this means that guardians have less time to complete other tasks, including household chores. Therefore, one of the common solution is parents opening cartoon videos on their mobile phones for their toddlers as a form of entertainment, so that they do not need to be closely looked after. In this way, the parents can have time to shift their focus on other responsibilities, such as washing the dishes.
However, although this can leverage the guardian’s responsibilities, young children using mobile phones frequently can cause them to be addicted. This encourages their behaviour to watch more cartoons and they may be on the mobile phones for an extensive period of time. Without intervention, it can induce myopia in children, eventually damaging their eye development in the long term.
In conclusion, even though mobile phones can be extremely effective in distracting toddlers, giving parents more time to do other tasks, it can be detrimental to young children. The lack of control by parents involving screen time can consequently lead to physical developmental issues, such as myopia.