IELTS writing: Some children spend hours every day on their smartphones.

Here you can find our sample answers:
Mehdi's writing:
Today, children can be seen glued to their smartphones, spending a huge amount of time on them. This happens principally due to the attractiveness of these gadgets and parents’ negligence of their children, and it is more of an undesirable development as shown here in this essay. (46)

Modern smartphones these days enjoy cutting-edge technology and are capable of performing a variety of different tasks while maintaining a relatively small size. This is what gravitates children toward smartphones since they now can download a variety of different applications and games, designed deliberately to be highly addictive. That is why you can see children playing a game such as “Call of Duty” for hours, staring at the bright screen, tirelessly tapping on it, killing virtual enemies, while wasting their precious time. Parents are also to blame in this case to some extent, because they might be busy working jobs inside and outside the home and might not be able to spend time with their children. To keep them busy, some parents see smartphones as a necessary evil and prefer a quiet child playing with his phone to a naughty one, wreaking havoc at home. (144)

While this phenomenon may have some advantages for children, it seems that the drawbacks far outweigh the benefits. Childhood is the time for children to be outside, breathing fresh air, playing with other children under the sun and being physically active. The interaction they have with others while playing different games is crucial for their development as they sometimes have to be part of a team, communicate with their peers, work towards a shared goal and learn how to fend for themselves when they confront a bully. Although spending long hours on smartphones may result in children feeling more comfortable working with different digital interfaces when they grow up, this poor posture adversely affects their health, causing myopia, arthritis, and obesity. Furthermore, they eventually end up becoming isolated individuals, incapable of face-to-face interaction with others which will severely limit their career prospects. (143)
To conclude, it seems that the reason why children spend long hours on their phones is because of the technological appeal of modern smartphones as well as their parent’s carelessness. Also, it is not a good idea to allow children to be on their smartphones for long periods of time since it has serious repercussions on their physical and mental health. (60)

Mohammad's writing:
A huge amount of children's daily time is said to be spent on their smartphones. The never-ending engagement of games and online content seems to be the primary reason, and this trend can be highly detrimental to children's health and growth.

To begin with, the appeal of playing games as well as following online materials can keep children on their phones for hours. Many mobile games, both online and offline, contain several levels and get more challenging as the player proceeds. They usually offer new and more features in the next levels, making the game addictive for children. Earning more gems and rewards in a game called Clash of Clans, for example, is tempting for the players as they can expand their territory and attack their enemies with better equipment in the game. Online social platforms can also keep children busy working on their phones. Algorithms of social media, such as Instagram or YouTube, track people's favourite content and constantly show them new materials on the explore page or through notifications. Unaware of these strategies, innocent children can spend hours and hours on their phones.

This increasing use of smartphones, however, can be deleterious for children. Firstly, overusing these devices can threaten children's health. Not only can it cause low vision, but it can also lead to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. Spending hours each day on phones can also hinder children's development of social skills. Instead of real face-to-face interactions with their friends, classmates and family members, these children are usually glued to their phone's screen, socializing online. This excessive online interaction may not allow them to build enough communication skills for their future personal and professional life.

In the final analysis, increasing engagement in the games and contents has persuaded some children to spend more and more time on their phones, and this can lead to serious problems for their health and social development.