Parents fear being replaced by gadgets

CONCERNED PARENTS have put aside their horror at rock and roll music and light entertainment television shows and turned their attention to gadgets, which they fear are replacing them.

Yes, this is madness, but it's also a survey, and we should remember that these are the sorts of people prepared to be buttonholed and who agree to voice their opinions about whether they find a mobile phone threatening or not.

The research carried out by Npower, a power utility firm, found that almost half of all parents are worried that communications with their offspring have been affected for the worse by technology.

A third said that they thought they were competing with games consoles and social notworking web sites for their children's attention and just over a quarter admitted that they felt "redundant and hurt" by their lack of involvement in their children's lives.

This is one of the most depressing things The INQUIRER has read since it picked up its last bar tab, and although it's tempting to suggest that the old folks just buy their kids more burgers and trainers there must be more to it than that.

Dr Linda Papadopoulos, who was on board to comment on the findings, said families should "spend time together doing face-to-face activities".

"Just an hour a day interacting as a family can boost confidence and improve verbal communication," we heard her explain as we passed on the way to our teaching grandmother to suck eggs class.

"Because this level of technology was not present when we were growing up, it's important to use it in a way that enriches our family life as opposed to using it to the detriment of other ways of communicating with each other," she suggested.

Perhaps what's most alarming in that suggestion is that it implies that some children have been physically attached to some sort of techno-device. Well, at least that is the impression we got.

Npower explained that some children spend up to five hours a day "glued to a screen" - and we don't imagine this to mean that they work making Ipads - while more than a quarter prefer digital time over face to face chats. µ