Smart devices like tablets, smartphones, and computers are impacting our youth by affecting their education and their health. Our rapidly developing world has produced a new style of parenting: I-Pad parenting. Because of the increased accessibility of smart devices, busy parents have begun giving smart devices, specifically I-Pads, to their children. This is very detrimental as children's brains are still developing at that time. When a child uses a tablet, the instantaneous, on-demand nature of the internet can overload their brains and cause stress and weaken the mental energy. Children with weak mental energy are likely to have huge mood swings and temper tantrums. Prolonged use can also lower the children's attention span as they have the control of what they want at their fingertips. Excessive I-Pad parenting weakens the child's relationship with their parents and friends as they are immersed in the digital world more than they are involved in real-world interactions. This will also cause the lack of proper social skills for obvious reasons. "I-Pad kids" are typically seen with their face buried in their screens, scrolling mindlessly, and ignoring their real-world surroundings. All over the internet, many people have reacted to Gen Alpha I-Pad kids being "bizarre and terribly behaved." I-Pad kids have shown to have weaker cognitive skills and delayed learning, which is also another reason I-pad parenting is bad, especially when the brain is still growing. There is also the question of how wholesome the content of the internet is. I-Pad kids have the entire internet at their fingers and many of the platforms they scroll through have inappropriate and disturbing content. If I-Pad parents don't even have time to parent their children normally, why would they have time to set a few parental controls? Even with parental controls, these children usually still have access to sketchy websites and user generated content. Many I-Pad children use social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram even though the minimum age requirement is 13. On social media, I-Pad children tend to mimic the behaviors of the adults on the internet the same way they might mimic the behaviors of their parents, which can also sometimes be problematic. Another problem is "brainrot." Brainrot is a slang term for low-value internet content and the effects of consuming too much of it. Here is an article about Gen Alpha and more. These recent generations has already been greatly greatly impacted by I-Pad parenting. Young adults who have been exposed to smart devices in their youth are more likely to be unsuccessful later in life. Children born after 2024 are a part of the new Gen Beta. I believe that we can prevent I-Pad parenting from backfiring on us in the future by banning the use of smart devices for our youth, especially when they are supposed to be developing social, cognitive, and mental skills. This is why I want I-Pad parenting to be criminalized, especially during the vital early years, when family bonds are formed and addiction can be prevented. The next generation is in our hands #curethefuture