Dr Ganesh Shetty’s observation about digital device addicts published in Monday’s edition of this newspaper should shake every Jamaican parent out of complacency.

When a child psychiatrist says he is seeing more children attending child guidance clinics addicted to tablets and smartphones than to ganja, it is no longer just a parenting issue, but a national emergency.

The irony is that, for decades, parents feared their children falling into the hands of drug dealers. Today, many are acting as the ‘dealers’ and providing the drug that sits at the dinner table and sleeps beside their children every night.

Too many parents are failing their children, not because they don’t love them, but because they have confused convenience with parenting. A restless toddler is handed an iPad. A bored child gets YouTube. A teenager disappears to their bedroom with a phone, and the parents convince themselves that everything is fine.

But it isn’t. As Dr Shetty warned, children are becoming disconnected and emotionally attached to machines designed to keep them hooked. They are struggling to focus, falling behind in school, and becoming less able to communicate, empathise, and resolve conflicts. Screens are shaping their view of the world long before parents, teachers, or communities can.

Yes, many parents are under tremendous pressure. Single mothers are working long hours. Fathers are too often absent. The cost of living means long work hours and little time or energy to actually parent. But hardship cannot become an excuse for surrendering the job of parenting to YouTube and TikTok algorithms.

We also should not ignore the reports from the teachers, and the growing move overseas to ditch screens for pen and paper. The declining attention spans, weaker communication skills, and iPad children who struggle with face-to-face interaction, have seen countries like Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain, and some states in the United States undergoing a massive digital reckoning, because they realise that many students simply learn better with books, handwritten notes, and real conversation.

Maybe there can be this kind of progress for Jamaica, too. Dr Shetty sounded the alarm with the disclosure during a presentation of findings of the National Study on Social Media Use and the Protection of Children, and it’s encouraging that nine out of every 10 respondents in the study support Government’s regulation of minors’ social media use, and nearly 84 per cent believe Jamaica should establish a clear policy framework governing minors’ use of social media.

This is not a call to ban technology. That would be unrealistic. Children need digital skills to thrive in today’s world. But a device should be a tool, not a babysitter. It should support socialisation, not replace it.

Government has a role in strengthening online protections for children, and schools must help teach responsible digital habits. But no policy can replace parents who set boundaries and are willing to endure a tantrum today instead of creating an addiction tomorrow.

This is a family and community effort, as Dr Shetty indicated.

Jamaica must decide whether it wants a generation that knows how to swipe a screen but cannot hold a conversation, show empathy or cope with disappointment. If we continue outsourcing parenting to technology we should not be surprised when technology becomes the strongest influence in our children’s lives. Screens can keep children quiet, but only parents can raise them.