‘Trauma can last a lifetime’: Hong Kong mother slammed over school bullying concerns after ‘addicted’ daughter’s smartphone replaced with basic model
- Mother tells online group that her daughter was always watching movies on her smartphone and a long period of education had not worked
- After the switch, her Primary Five daughter was taunted by schoolmates leading online observers to warn of possible bullying consequences
A Hong Kong mother has been chastised online for trying to treat her daughter’s “addiction” to her smartphone by replacing it with a super-basic device which only allows old-style dial-up calls.
The mother, who was worried about her child’s overuse of the smart device, bought her a cheap new phone that looks like a toy and posted a message about her decision online, adding that her Primary Five daughter was preparing for exams.
In her post, the mother said of her daughter: “She goes online every day to watch videos. She even works harder on her phone than people at work.”
The mother said that she had been educating her daughter every day and felt overwhelmed.
Finally, “for the sake of family harmony”, her solution was to buy her daughter a simple and basic phone online.
The yellow-coloured device has a low-resolution screen and a small keypad and comes in a bear-ear-shaped case. It can only make and receive calls and only has an alarm clock and a small calculator.
As a result, the poster’s daughter was “laughed at by her classmates for a whole month”, her mother said. However, the taunts have now stopped and her daughter still carries the phone to school every day.
“I don’t need to worry about her watching videos even when she’s crossing the street,” said the mother, adding: “Also, the phone has a good battery which only needs to be charged once every five days.”
However, to the mother’s surprise, most of the more than 300 comments she attracted were critical.
One online observer said the mother had no regard for her daughter’s feelings and that “schools are not as innocent now as they were decades ago”.
Another commenter said: “This kind of psychological trauma can last a lifetime.”
One even suggested the mother consider the possibility of bullying as a result of her decision: “School bullying is always triggered by these small, unexpected things.”
