Madonna: Mobile Phones Ended Relationship With Children

Madonna has warned parents and those with au pair jobs in London to think carefully about when to give children mobile phones, as she claims her relationship with her kids ended when she gave them their own digital devices.

The Like A Prayer hitmaker told Vogue magazine she lost her connection with her teenage children – Lourdes and Rocco – when she gave them mobile phones on their thirteenth birthdays, reported The Guardian.

The mother-of-six, who also has four adopted youngsters from Malawi, told the fashion magazine: “It became a very, very big part of their lives. They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that’s really bad for self-growth.”

Consequently, she did not give her son David a phone when he became 13, saying: “I’m going to stick that one out for as long as possible.”

The multi-Grammy award-winner went on to say social media has affected Lourdes – another reason why she is avoiding giving her younger kids, Mercy, 13 and six-year-old twins Stelle and Estere smartphones when they grow up.

“I feel social media plagues her and makes her feel like: ‘People are going to give me things because I’m [Madonna’s] daughter’,” the 60-year-old stated.

The singer’s comments come after US scientists found children who use smartphones and tablets a lot may suffer from mental health problems as they grow older.

Preventative Medicine Reports revealed their findings, which showed children aged between two and 17 years old who spend seven hours a day on screens were twice as likely to experience depression or anxiety compared with those who used technology for just one hour a day.