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Parents say their kids are going ballistic when they take their iPads away from them, leaving them unsure of what normal behavior might be — and whether there’s something sinister going on with their child’s connection to the devices.
Rachel, a mother of two, tried limiting her son Jonah’s screen time by warning him that he had put down his iPad to leave for a birthday party at 11 AM. Despite the repeated warnings the day before and several reminders before the hour mark, when it came time to leave, Jonah had a meltdown.
“He just left his body,” the mother told The Cut of her son, who hurled the electronics and started screaming: “You said I had until 11! It’s not 11 yet! You’re always doing this!”
Jonah followed her around the house, distraught, until finally collapsing on the kitchen floor and refusing to move.
“I remember standing there thinking, I don’t know this person,” she recalled. “I genuinely did not recognize him.”
Thirty minutes later, he tied his shoes, got in the car, and acted like nothing had happened.
“That’s the part that really messes with you,” Rachel says. “How fast they come back.”
Think that’s bad? Hear what Nora had told The Cut about her 13-year-old son when she asked to check his phone settings: he accused Nora of ruining his life, before dropping a grenade in conversation.
“You make me want to kill myself,” he lashed out.
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