Megan Fox: No cell phones & tablets, it interferes with the brain development

Back in 2014, Megan Fox announced in an interview that she’s a firm believer in not wanting her sons to be introduced to modern technology during their childhoods. Megan said that she lets Bodhi and Noah watch movies but not TV, and that “my goal is no computers, no cell phones until at least 8th grade.” A lot of people rolled their eyes at her for that one, but Megan stuck with it. This week, Megan did a red carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight and she basically said that she’s sending her sons to something like a Waldorf school so they won’t use computers until they’re 16 (and then they’ll just go berserk, I’m assuming).

Megan says:

“My kids in particular, I’m enrolling them in a school where technology is not allowed until they’re much older and computers are introduced because they will need that eventually to function in the real world. But as children, they shouldn’t be around it at all in my opinion. My kids won’t have cell phones or tablets, or any of that. It interferes with the brain development. I’m very big into this, I’m very passionate about it.”

The thing is, I understand this. I’m old enough where I can say that my childhood was spent without the onslaught of cell phones, smartphones, iPads, tablets, etc. My childhood was also pre-social media. And I genuinely think that my childhood was probably better than most kids’ childhoods today. There is something to be said for giving kids the space to use their imaginations, to not have wall-to-wall visual stimulation via technology, and all of that. Of course, this reminds me of the “I will never feed my children sugar” diet debates – the kids will have friends, they’re go over to someone’s house, they’ll be exposed to all of this stuff well before their mom approves. Just because mom has a no sugar/no tablet rule, doesn’t mean that your six-year-old won’t be gorging on mini-Snickers while playing video games somewhere.

Also, Megan said: “Something like Jennifer’s Body I’m not going to let them see for a long time. Something like Jonah Hex I’m not going to let them see ever. No one should see that movie.” SELF BURN! I’ve never seen Jonah Hex, despite the fact that Michael Fassbender is in it, and I do remember that people were like, “Ugh, this movie is so bad.” Still, I hate when actors are like “don’t ever watch my movie, you guys.”

Note by CB: Studies on the effect of technology on child development show mixed results, with both costs and benefits. My son, at 11, has learned advanced science, math and countless facts and history on his own over the Internet. I would argue that there’s no question that technology is an educational asset as long as it’s used with supervision and content filters. It comes down to a family’s choice on how to handle it though.

Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.

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