Help! I’m a grown-up addicted to my iPad
WELL done, Kirstie Allsopp, in highlighting gaming addiction (Mail). I’m a 73-year-old lady and I’m ashamed to say that I’m addicted to word games, number games and logical thinking puzzle games, which I play on my iPad. It’s so easy to get hooked: you just can’t pull yourself away and one game leads to another. And I’m supposed to be mature and sensible. I love reading, cross-stitch embroidery, photography, cooking and baking, yet I have to admit that outdoor activities and drives into the countryside have taken a back seat since I started to spend too much time on the screen. Kirstie has opened my eyes to the fact that not only children, but all of us, need to put aside our phones and tablet screens and be more sociable and active in the fresh air. When my daughter visits me, she sits checking her iPhone while the grandchildren play games on their mobiles. I often wonder why they have bothered coming round because conversation is almost non-existent. We all need to engage in activities that benefit our physical wellbeing as well as our minds. I’m going to stop sitting long hours in my armchair and, from today, I’m making a pledge to start using my precious gifts and talents before I lose them. Mrs YVONNE MILLER, Crawley, W. Sussex. AT THE supermarket checkout there was a mum feverishly texting while she unloaded her shopping on to the conveyor belt, totally oblivious to her young son. Kirstie Allsopp has been castigated by many for smashing her two young sons’ iPads after they defied her commands to cease playing with them, but I believe she took the right action. I was sorely tempted to do the same with the checkout mum. It was heartbreaking to see the little lad ignored as if he didn’t even exist. His mother should have been engaging with him and encouraging him to take an interest in what was going on. Electronic devices have taken over from good, old-fashioned face-to-face conversations. In the street, look around you and there is a sea of heads staring down at miniature screens, oblivious to traffic, other pedestrians and lamp posts, all ecstatic to share mundane, mindnumbing social dross. My visiting grandchildren are forbidden to switch on their phones: they have come to see their grandparents, share family stories, play in the garden and be fussed over and spoilt rotten. I have a basic mobile phone that can take and make phone calls and texts, and that is all I require. It’s for emergencies, not for sending pictures of my dinner to all and sundry. The height of ignorance is shoppers on their phone while the sales assistant is trying to offer change and the till receipt, to be ignored except for an outstretched hand. Kirstie has set the standard that we must follow.
TONY LEVY, Wednesfield, W. Mids.