09/09/2026
Sometimes, I find myself longing for the days when primary school children didn’t have handphones.
At the centre, I still see glimpses of the childhood I remember among my younger students. They arrive early, pick up a book, draw, play with their friends, chat and somehow always find something to do.
But as they grow older, something seems to change.
Over the years, I’ve noticed myself having to work increasingly harder to sustain their attention and keep them going when the work becomes difficult.
I feel this most strongly during the PSLE period.
In previous batches, when PSLE drew near, I often saw another gear kick in. The children were tired and stressed too, but there was sheer determination “I’m going to push through this.”
These days, I sometimes feel that perseverance wanes much faster. When something is difficult, mentally tiring or requires sustained concentration, some children seem to reach their limit much earlier. As their tutor, I find myself doing much more encouraging, motivating and pulling them along.
And I sometimes wonder whether our increasingly screen-filled childhoods have something to do with it.
Perhaps when children become accustomed to constant stimulation and instant entertainment, sitting with boredom, frustration or a difficult problem becomes that little bit harder.
I’m not against technology. It is part of their world, and it isn’t going away. And as parents and educators, I think we are all trying to navigate something that previous generations never had to deal with on this scale.
Perhaps we don’t need to take their phones away completely.
Maybe we can simply protect a few more pockets of their day. A car ride without a screen, some waiting time without entertainment, half an hour with a book, a meal spent talking, or an afternoon when being “bored” is perfectly okay.
Not as a punishment, and not because technology is bad.
But because our children still need opportunities to discover that boredom is tolerable, frustration can be worked through, and difficult things don’t always need an immediate escape.
Sometimes, the most valuable thing we can give them may simply be the space to persist.
