THE TABLET PANDEMIC
‘Femi Adekunle on Parenting
The long holiday period for schoolchildren just ended. Shortly before it did, I was driving through a residential area in the city of Abuja and I was thrilled by what I saw. I saw a number of kids ranging from like ages 5 to 10, about twelve to fifteen of them. The way they were dressed, it was obvious that they are far from being kids of the rich. They were out there on the street running around happily. The boys had a small-sized football while the girls sang, clapped and danced.
I parked to observe. I saw some of them playing with a local dog, while some played in the sand along the kerbs of the untarred street.
Why was I thrilled? It brought back the nostalgia of my growing up days. The days when we manufactured our toys and made our ‘cars’. We boys rolled tyres along dusty roads and the girls sang, clapped and danced to different folk songs. We made catapults and shot at birds; strolled into the surrounding bushes to set traps which sometimes to our delight, caught rodents. We told ourselves folk stories even if it was to repeat the stories grandpa or grandma had told us the previous night.
I tried to remember when last I saw kids clad in their shorts flying kites along the streets, or playing games made from local technology like my generation did. On the contrary what do I see? I see kids with gadgets lost in their own worlds. I see toddlers whose tantrums are arrested by parents who give them devices, just so the parents can have peace. I see kids who are in a group but hardly interacting, with eyes glued to tablets and heads bowed to mini screens.
This is the generation of kids we are raising. Kids who care less about their neighbours and neighbourhood. Kids who are impervious to happenings in their immediate environment. Kids whose creative capacity have been stifled by contemporary technology with the active connivance and culpability of contemporary parents.
This is what we have done to the generation of our children. Technology will keep advancing, but it is our duty as parents to regulate its impact on our children such that they are not slaves to it.
Whereas there are many positive sides to the emergence of gadget use by children, we must be aware of the negative impact and help our kids out of them. Research has shown that excessive and overly permissive use of gadgets by kids can lead to several adverse physical health issues like vision strain, sleep disruptions, a sedentary lifestyle, among others. It can also have negative mental and cognitive effects, while affecting social and behavioural development in children.
This is a pandemic, and parents care less, not ready to wrestle their kids from its impact just yet. Which was why when I saw those kids on the street, I was thrilled.
Who will rescue us from this pandemic?
‘ *Femi Adekunle* , a Parenting and Family Coach, writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
Email: femi383@gmail.com
WhatsApp: 08055103512
2nd October, 2026
