By admin 
[ad_1]
A dad on TikTok sparked debate after saying that he does not want to be friends with any parents who raise “iPad kids,” calling them harmful parents who border on “abusive.”
After witnessing a family of five on their screens while eating dinner at McDonald’s, TikTok user Austin Coulter recorded his take on the situation to TikTok, passionately announcing that he has no desire to be friends with parents who are raising “iPad kids.”
“So everyone comes in and has their own tablet, mind you, not saying a word, this family, okay?” the father of two says.
“And I’m immediately like, My God, I’m judgmental basically, and this reinforces the thought that I already have, which is if you are a parent … and you want to raise your kids with iPads, I, in the kindest way possible, do not want to be friends with you.”
He says that parents who “raise their kids with iPads” have completely different views on life.
“It’s borderline abusive,” he claims before noting that the McDonald’s they were at has a playground where a bunch of kids were running around and playing, alluding to the fact that this other family should have been encouraging their kids to do the same.
“Your kid’s going to sit there and watch a screen. This doesn’t even touch on the fact that your four-year-old, five-year-old … has full access to the internet. That’s kind of insane,” he concludes.
The comments on his video were mixed. Some completely agreed with Coulter’s take.
“Kids need to be bored,” one user wrote.
“what people don’t understand is that their kids are hard to handle BECAUSE they have so much screen time. Screens are addictive. The kids are freaking out. It’s ruining their nervous system,” another noted.
One user said, “I’d rather see/hear your children melt down in public than face buried in a screen at 4yo.”
“Kids in restaurants aren’t hard to deal with. Just TALK to them! Color with them. People don’t want to interact with their own kids. It’s depressing,” another said.
However, some parents defended the McDonald’s family.
“Honestly just mind ur business, that’s what I do,” one user said.
The OP replied with snark and said, “Would you consider it minding your own business, popping up here in my comments?”
Another wrote, “Idk. I think what you’re saying is definitely a problem, and maybe this family is exactly what you say they were. But it isn’t always the case. We have given my son our phone with bluey at dinner before, but it’s not the norm or always the case. We are making the decision in the moment based on what the entire day has been like. We are as his parents qualified to make that decision. Some people will disagree with it by principle, but idgaf because I know what’s real and I care about that so much more than appearances or what others might think”
Again, the OP tripled down on his take and sent snark back to the commenter.
After gaining tons of traction, Coulter made a follow-up video where he took a softer approach, wondering if he was “too mean” to parents of “iPad kids.”
“I recorded like six videos trying to think of something to say to these iPad parents that are really upset saying I don’t want to be friends with you if you raise your kid with an iPad,” he began.
“If you raise your kid with an iPad, I think you have to understand that a lot of society is judging it because we’re witnessing in real time the negative effects of these screens on our little kids, our babies, and we don’t really want any part of it and it’s kind of confusing to me and to some other people why parents would want that in their life. While I could have been nicer and I don’t want to compound parental guilt that people have, I do stand by the fact that I’m very disturbed that all these kids have their own screen.”
[ad_2]
