There’s never a shortage of family drama on Reddit, and today is no exception. Get ready for this story submitted by an aunt who needs strangers’ opinions on whether she’s in the wrong for telling her sister she’s “ruining her kid’s life” by using an iPad.
“My sister (36, female) and her husband have a 10-year-old child (who will be referred to as “Jimothy” in this post) who my husband and I sometimes look after on weekends and some days I take him to school. About a year ago we noticed that Jimothy was starting to develop an American accent. We’re Australian. Young children go through phases and so I didn’t want to make a ‘thing’ out of it,” she writes.
First, great fake name. Second, we’re cautiously optimistic so far. Remember all those headlines about American kids picking up an English accent from Peppa Pig and an Australian accent from Bluey? It happens, is generally no big deal, and is something they get over.
But OP continues, “Over the next few months, the accent got stronger and Jimothy became more irritable. My husband and I talked to my sister about it, who said that Jimothy wasn’t very grumpy around her. Then he lost interest in almost all the activities he used to enjoy. This was also a cause for concern for me. Every weekend it got worse. He complained that he was bored, but when we gave him a detailed list of all the things we could do with him, he said no to every single one.”
She says that at the beginning of the school year, the teachers asked Jimothy how long he had been in America because his accent had become so pronounced. And then there was a scandal at his birthday party.
“His family was invited, and so was I, and all his friends, too. That’s when I realized, to some extent, what was going on,” she writes. “He was sitting on an iPad, scrolling through some kind of short content I didn’t recognize. His friends wanted to play with him, and he just didn’t realize they were there. People were giving him gifts, and he acted like he was uncomfortable having to turn the iPad off. Never before had any of my nieces or nephews reacted like that when I gave them money and tasty treats.”
She continues: “I told my sister that something was wrong and that Jimothy was obviously not well. She seemed very offended that I was ‘questioning her parenting methods,’ as she put it, and she decided that my husband and I had to stop looking after Jimothy.”
After not seeing Jimothy for a while, things got worse, OP says.
“The next time I saw Jimothy was recently at my niece’s birthday party (different parents). Jimothy was completely focused on the iPad. He was noticeably thinner, which was probably because he forgot to eat in favor of iPad time. And when someone went to talk to him, he would almost instinctively press the screen to his body so no one could see him.”
She continues, “I had to talk to my sister and her husband. I told them what I was thinking, which was that a year ago Jimothy was a lively child who got along well with everyone, and now he is withdrawn and you can see him skipping meals. My sister denied that Jimothy’s behavior had changed, but her husband admitted that I was right to some extent and that Jimothy’s friends had stopped going out with him because he always said no. I told my sister that she was ruining Jimothy’s life by allowing this iPad stuff to continue. She started yelling at me and I left the party.”
So is she wrong about what she told her sister? People on Reddit mostly say no.
“I hear you, iPad bad luck is widespread in much of the world. The iPad is raising kids and I bet he’s been watching YouTube Shorts,” reads one of the most upvoted comments. “I’ve seen similar behavior in kids who spend excessive iPad time, like irritability, short attention span, personality changes. I’m sure there must be studies on this, but parenting can be a difficult task and finding 10 minutes of peace and quiet can be impossible without the help of an iPad. It’s a tough situation, but it seems like your sister went too far with the iPad surgery. Good thing you called her out.”
Other commentators raise more serious concerns.
“My niece spends too much time watching short YouTube videos but shows no signs of brain rot. This is not normal when using an iPad. Given a choice between gifts, friends and short YouTube videos, she chooses people and gifts every time. She enjoys spending time with adults and children, loves 1×1 attention, loves playing with her cousin. She makes messes like a normal child. And she also watches short YouTube videos,” one person writes. “The iPad is not the cause of this. The iPad is escapism. There is something else going on. Maybe he is being abused, neglected, sexually abused… I don’t know. But an iPad alone does not cause what you are describing.”
Another added: “People don’t realize that kids can actually get addicted to things. I read a newspaper article not long ago about a 9-year-old who wasn’t sleeping, eating, or going to the bathroom so he could play more Fortnite. The parents tried to take the console away from them and they didn’t take it back until they were asleep. This kid is addicted. Period.”
OP hasn’t updated this story, but hopefully it has a happy ending for this family.
