There was a time when boredom was simply part of existence. People waited at bus stops, stood in lineups, ate meals, travelled short distances and even sat alone without needing to be entertained every second. Today, screen time, attention spans, the death of reading - parents raise these issues at every meeting, and they are not wrong to worry. But the conversation almost always points in one direction, from adult to child, as though the problem were something children caught on their own, like a cold, and the adults were merely trying to cure it.

The truth is less comfortable. Children do not learn their relationship with the phone from the phone. They learn it from their parents. A child asked to put the device away at the dinner table, while a parent checks a message ‘just once’, receives two lessons at the same time and picks the one that is demonstrated rather than the one that is stated. Parents should........

© The Pioneer