The Dangers of Smartphones Are the Same as Drugs

Giving kids freedom to use a smartphone is like giving them one gram of cocaine. The assessment was disclosed a child therapist in the UK to describe how a smartphone can cause addiction like someone addicted to narcotics.

Mandy Saligari, who is also the Chief Clinic of Harley Street Charter in the UK, reminded the parents to be more strictly watching their children play smartphones. The time children and teenagers spend sending messages through Snapchat or Instagram is as dangerous as drug addiction and alcohol.

"I always tell parents, when you give a tablet or smartphone to children it is just giving them wine or cola," he said at an educational conference in London.

Addiction to smartphones has the same effect on the brain as people who are addicted to alcohol or narcotics. Launched from the UK Independent survey page shows a third of 12-15 year-old children claimed to have no balanced activity between playing smartphones and other activities.

"When someone is addicted to something, then opium will affect his behavior in the future," Saligary added. In terms of smartphone addiction, Saligari exemplifies the potential for an obsession with food, self-harm, and sexting.

The smartphone effect on children and teenagers is quite troubling in the UK. "In the last ten years there has been a dramatic increase in patients in our clinic," Saligary said. As many as two-thirds of patients at the 16-20-year-old Harley Street Charter Clinic came to seek healing therapy due to smartphone addiction.