Excessive screen time causes 10-year-old boy to lose his Australian accent, parents defend their parenting choices: 'The kid obviously is deteriorating'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Aug 21, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

Everyone has a right to parent in their own way, but we also all have the right to think what we think about those choices. There are as many ways to parent as there are children in the world, and we will never understand the full scope of a situation from the outside. We can only hold judgments from afar and mind our business. That is, until you feel like someone is being endangered, especially if they're in your own family. Then it's not only your right but your obligation to say something in defense of the child.

That's what happened to one woman who noticed alarming changes in her 10-year-old nephew while she babysat. The problem was when she brought it up with the child's mother, she got told to mind her own business. Read on for the story and see what happened to this family, and see what commenters had to say. 

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    AITA for telling my sister that she is ruining her child's life with an iPad?
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    My sister (36F) and her husband have a 10-year-old kid (who for the purposes of this post is called "Jimothy") who me and my husband sometimes babysit on the weekends and on some days I take him to school. As of about a year ago, we started to notice that Jimothy was beginning to develop an American accent. We are Australian. Small kids have phases, and so I didn't want to make it "a thing".
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    Over the next few months, the accent got thicker and Jimothy became more irritable. Me and my husband brought this up with my sister, who said that Jimothy wasn't very grumpy when with her. He then started losing interest in almost all activities that he used to enjoy. Again, this was a concern for me. Every weekend it got worse. He would complain of being bored but when we offered an exhaustive list of all the things we could do with him, he said no to every single one.
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    The school year for 2024 started, and on the weekend after that Jimothy told us that his teacher and a few classmates had asked him how long he'd been in the US before moving to Australia. At this point his American accent was indistinguishable from a General American accent. My husband and I were really wondering what was happening.
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    Then, it was Jimothy's birthday party. His family was invited, including me, and so were all his friends. This was the moment that made me realise to some extent what was going on. He was on an iPad, scrolling some kind of short-form content that I did not recognise. His friends. wanted to play with him, and he just did not notice they were
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    there. People were giving him presents, and he acted like he was inconvenienced for having to turn the iPad off. Never before had any of my nieces or nephews reacted like this upon me giving them money and delicious treats.
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    I told my sister that something was going on, and that Jimothy is obviously not in a good way. She seemed very offended that I was "questioning her parenting choices" as she put it, and she decided that me and my husband babysitting Jimothy had to stop.
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    The next time I saw Jimothy was very recently, at my niece's birthday party (different parents). Jimothy was completely glued to the iPad. He was noticeably skinnier, which I suspect was because he was forgetting to eat in favour of iPad time. And when anyone went over to talk to him, he would almost instinctively push the screen towards his body so nobody could see.
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    I had to talk to my sister and her husband. I told them what I thought, that a year ago Jimothy was an energetic child who got along really well with everyone, and now he's reclusive and it's obvious from just looking at him that he's skipping meals. My sister denied any changes in Jimothy's behaviour, but her
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    husband did admit that I was right to some extent, and Jimothy's friends had stopped trying to hang out with him because he said no 100% of the time. I told my sister she was wrecking Jimothy's life by continuing to let this iPad stuff happen. She started shouting at me, and I walked out of the party.
    via u/Top-River-4460
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    SweetBlueHaven · 7 hr. ago • NTA. The kid obviously is deteriorating. I wouldn't be surprised for him to grow up with depression and anxiety when dealing with social interactions at school and at work. It's good that you and your husband care about Jimothy. At the end of the day, you tried to help out so let them handle the upcoming issues that will surely arise in the future.
    via u/SweetBlueHaven
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    Though the accent is actually a weird thing to point out. It's not really an issue here.
    via u/SweetBlueHaven
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    • PrincessStephanieR 6 hr. ago The accent thing just shows how long he's spent glued to the iPad watching American shows / playing American games. Accent isn't an issue, it's the reason why it came about that's the problem.
    via u/PrincessStephanieR
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    JonTheFlon 5 hr. ago • I'm british and my sister knows someone who's kid has started doing the American thing as well.
    via u/JonTheFlon
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    Ok_You_17 7 hr. ago NTA for expressing your concerns about Jimothy's well-being, especially given the noticeable changes in his behavior and health. It's important to voice worries. when a child's development and health seem to be at risk. Your sister's reaction
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    indicates she may be defensive or unwilling to confront the issue, but your concerns about excessive screen time and its effects are valid. It's crucial to approach such topics with sensitivity, but your intention to address a potential problem in Jimothy's life shows care for his welfare.
    via u/Ok_You_17
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    Beat Mangler · 7 hr. ago It sounds like a really desperate situation that child is becoming very desensitized to whatever he is looking at which could be very adult in nature or it could be something quite sickening. All the red flags are there I just hope your sister soon realises and then can see that you
    via u/Beat_Mangler
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    were only trying to help. As a side note I don't think the Internet should be censored I think parents should control their children's use of the internet a lot better because my goodness it's wide open and kids are very Savvy with computers
    via u/Beat_Mangler
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    LeSaunier 6 hr. ago • Him immerging himself in his Ipad isn't the cause, it's the consequence. It's the tip of the iceberg. My kids love their screens, but they also want to play boardgames, go cycling in the forest nearby or jump in the pool.
    via u/LeSaunier
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    There's something else. There's something that cause this kid to focus solely on his Ipad. You were right to have concern. If you're truly concerned, and your sister keep a blind eye to the situation, you may want to call the social service. It will hurt your relationship with your family, but better that than letting this kid continue to suffer. Cause he is suffering.
    via u/LeSaunier
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    thealchemist1000- 6 hr. ago • I feel you, the blight of the ipad is endemic across huge swathes of the world. The ipad raises kids, and im betting he was watching youtube shorts.
    via u/thealchemist1000
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    I have noticed similar behaviour in kids who watch excessive ipad, such as irritability, short attention span, changes in personality. Im sure there are studies to be done on this, but parenting can be a hard task, and getting 10 minutes peace and quiet can be impossible. without the aid of an ipad.
    via u/thealchemist1000
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    Rock/hard place, but it does seem like your sister has gone too far with the ipad op. Good on you for calling her out. NTA
    via u/thealchemist1000

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