Kids playing on iPads/tablets/smartphones in public with the sound on

[The Reverend]

Have noticed this a lot recently. Kids being left with electronic devices with the sound ranging from noticeable to full blast in public places (including transport, pubs & restaurants).

Is this acceptable?

On the one hand it can be argued that listening to the music/sounds of whatever a kid is watching or playing can be distracting, irritating and/or ruin the experience of those around them. It also is not teaching children to be mindful of other people.

However, some parents may argue that kids are hard to keep quiet in public settings. As parents they are entitled to use these public spaces as much as anyone else and the electronic devices are keeping their kids entertaining/occupied. If it bothers others so much can they not either ignore it or put in headphones to drown out the noise.

[Long slender neck]

I suspect lazy parenting, in many cases.

[Daily Express bot]

Have noticed this a lot recently. Kids being left with electronic devices with the sound ranging from noticeable to full blast in public places (including transport, pubs & restaurants).

Is this acceptable?

On the one hand it can be argued that listening to the music/sounds of whatever a kid is watching or playing can be distracting, irritating and/or ruin the experience of those around them. It also is not teaching children to be mindful of other people.

However, some parents may argue that kids are hard to keep quiet in public settings. As parents they are entitled to use these public spaces as much as anyone else and the electronic devices are keeping their kids entertaining/occupied. If it bothers others so much can they not either ignore it or put in headphones to drown out the noise.

It is totally irresponsible on the part of the parents and highly disrespectful in public places. There seems to be no family etiquette these days for a standard acceptable level of behaviour. A few years back I was on holiday dining in a 2 Star Michelin restaurant in Portugal when these children aged under 10 were on their computers throughout the meal. I obviously made my thoughts known when the bill arrived.

[marcho]

Even more annoying when on an aeroplane,

[SuffolkO]

First time I have ever felt I needed to post on here.

I may be opening my self up for abuse but while I agree there are a lot of children and adult that seem to have the phone ect far too loud in the wrong places.

It is also worth being mindful of the situations on the child.

Being the parent of an autistic child sometime the only way we can keep our child calm is to let her watch videos on a phone/tablet. If a child is having a meltdown it maybe a last option rather than a family missing out.

As a family we are always mindful of other people round us and try to keep the volume as low as possible, headphones can be a issue with some individual including our child.

We have had all kinds of comments and looks when our child is having a bad time.

Finally I think the incentive the club did a little while back was great and I hope more to follow.

[Long slender neck]

Fair enough. On trains most people have headphones in anyway so its not a problem.

Adults playing stuff out loud bothers me more than a bit of peppa pig.

Not a criticism but I wonder how sen kids coped before these devices? Obviously the genie cant go back in the bottle and this is 2024 though, if it works then great.

I put a 1hr daily limit on my kids tablet(its not used daily), the quality of the vast majority of apps is utterly dire, same goes for content on youtube. They also tend to be full of the worst tech practices like micro transactions, loot boxes.

[LPE]

I just suck it up because, even if you ask politely, you end up looking like the villain.

The parental values - granted the landscape is different now - instilled in the 1970s & 80s (and before) have vanished from some families now. Very sad.

It’s also inconsiderate adults too (probably who weren’t also taught the value of etiquette and importance of manners by their parents).

Headphones were invented for a reason and I find myself reaching for mine far too often to drown out the tinny sounds of disrespectful peoples phones and gadgets.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

I have a 3 year old and it drives me nuts when there’s stuff at full volume when parents clearly aren’t mindful of those around them.
We do t let ours use one or our phones, aside from a 4 hour flight a few months back and then obviously used headphones.
Tbh I find it all a bit depressing when a small kid has a phone pushed in their face to shut them up for 5 mins.

Aside from the cases where kids have sensory issues wearing headphones it’s just lazy and selfish behaviour

[Proposition Joe]

Ours has considerably less screen time than most of his peers, not one upmanship as people need to do what works for them, but it's a conscious decision and, for the moment at least, he absolutely loves having his books read to him. Ad nauseum.

That said, we've got return trip to Aus/NZ coming up and you bet your arse we're training him up to watch a bunch of Chuggington and Bluey back to back. But we've bought him headphones, natch.

[Long slender neck]

We did a coach trip to disneyland, it took about 10 hours and my kid remembers that time(glued to tablet) very fondly.

[Proposition Joe]

16 hours from Auckland to Doha. Kill me now.

[Hoover Attack]

I have a 3 year old and it drives me nuts when there’s stuff at full volume when parents clearly aren’t mindful of those around them.
We do t let ours use one or our phones, aside from a 4 hour flight a few months back and then obviously used headphones.
Tbh I find it all a bit depressing when a small kid has a phone pushed in their face to shut them up for 5 mins.

Aside from the cases where kids have sensory issues wearing headphones it’s just lazy and selfish behaviour

I had exactly the same opinion as this when we had just the one kid.

[Dunners]

Yeah, having one kid is a piece of p*ss. Once you have two or more you soon find out.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Well, that’s why we aren’t having any more. Don’t want to be miserable.

[CEB]

We decided to stop at zero for that exact reason

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Although the downside of having one is every miserable parent of multiple kids double up on the ‘wait until you have two, three, four…it’ll be so much harder’ and in the next breath ‘when you having another? Ah it’s so nice when they play together’

[Dunners]

Although the downside of having one is every miserable parent of multiple kids double up on the ‘wait until you have two, three, four…it’ll be so much harder’ and in the next breath ‘when you having another? Ah it’s so nice when they play together’

The way I put it is that, the more kids you have, the more they get to divide up your arse wiping duties when you're old and senile.

[Proposition Joe]

Although the downside of having one is every miserable parent of multiple kids double up on the ‘wait until you have two, three, four…it’ll be so much harder’ and in the next breath ‘when you having another? Ah it’s so nice when they play together’

The way I put it is that, the more kids you have, the more they get to divide up your arse wiping duties when you're old and senile.

How's that working out so far?

[Hoover Attack]

We decided to stop at zero for that exact reason

It hasn't worked.

[Hoover Attack]

Although the downside of having one is every miserable parent of multiple kids double up on the ‘wait until you have two, three, four…it’ll be so much harder’ and in the next breath ‘when you having another? Ah it’s so nice when they play together’

Not saying it's so much harder at all - the biggest change is obviously going from none to 1.

But subsequent kids will never get as much attention as child 1 did. Which is why aids, such as screen time, are a necessary evil.

It's also not nice when they play together. You're basically just a full time referee, given multiple conflicting stories of what has happened and who did what to whom, but without the benefit of VAR.

[CEB]

We decided to stop at zero for that exact reason

It hasn't worked.

That was the joke

[Adz]

If you want to do it, bring some f*cking headphones too. We went out last week, and some kid had bluey blaring out, so we moved to the other side of the restaurant to get away from it.

I think restaurants should enforce a headphone policy, and have a few to offer to families who forget to bring them.

[Hoover Attack]

We decided to stop at zero for that exact reason

It hasn't worked.

That was the joke

No, you are.

[Proposition Joe]

If you want to do it, bring some f*cking headphones too. We went out last week, and some kid had bluey blaring out, so we moved to the other side of the restaurant to get away from it.

I think restaurants should enforce a headphone policy, and have a few to offer to families who forget to bring them.

Bluey's great though.

[Long slender neck]

Did you know Bluey is a girl? I was shocked.