Something I worry about for the next generation is how lonely children might become, even though they're constantly connected online. I'm a thirty-eight-year-old secondary school counsellor in Bangkok, and I have two kids of my own, aged nine and twelve.
I started thinking about it seriously about three years ago. More and more students came to my office saying they had hundreds of followers but nobody to talk to at lunchtime. One girl told me she spent an entire weekend in her room messaging people but didn't speak to a single person face to face. That really stayed with me.
I've discussed it with my husband, of course, and with other parents at my children's school. We even organised an evening meeting to talk about screen time. Interestingly, most parents had the same concern but felt powerless, because if every other child has a phone, you don't want yours to be left out.
It concerns me because real friendships teach skills you can't learn from a screen, like reading someone's face, handling disagreements and simply sitting together in silence. Without those skills, I worry young people will find it harder to build relationships, cope with problems or ask for help. I'm also concerned that comparing themselves to perfect images online is damaging their self-esteem. That said, I don't think technology is the enemy. My son plays online games with his cousins in Chiang Mai, and that keeps them close. The issue is balance. So at home we now have phone-free dinners and Sunday afternoons, and my kids complain, but they also laugh more.