IELTS Writing Task 2: Children and Smartphones (Band 9 Sample)

It is now common to see young children absorbed in their phones for hours at a time. In this essay I will explain why this happens and argue that, despite some genuine benefits, the trend is on the whole a worrying one.

1. Why children spend so long on their phones

The most obvious reason is that these devices are deliberately designed to be hard to put down. Apps and games use rewards, notifications and endless feeds to keep users scrolling, and a child's developing brain is far less able to resist that pull than an adult's. On top of this, many parents hand over a phone as a convenient way to keep a child quiet, and once that habit forms it is extremely difficult to break. Peer pressure plays a part too, since children who are not online can feel left out of their friends' conversations.

2. A largely negative development

While phones do offer educational apps and a way to stay in touch, I believe the drawbacks outweigh these advantages. Hours of screen time displace the physical play, face-to-face conversation and sleep that children need in order to develop healthily. There is also mounting concern that constant exposure to social media harms young people's attention spans and self-esteem. A childhood spent staring at a screen is, in my view, a poor substitute for one spent exploring the real world.

In conclusion, children spend so long on their phones largely because the technology is engineered to be addictive and because it is a convenient tool for busy parents, but this is a negative development, since it crowds out the experiences that matter most for a healthy childhood.