In response to this task, IELTS candidates often write about exciting videos, the allures of social media, and gravitating games on smartphones as reasons why children spend hours on phones. As for effects, they talk about the development of sedentary lifestyles with its aftermath, such as obesity or poor eyesight, and the loneliness that follows in the absence of interactions with peers in the outside world. 

These ideas are all fine as they address the questions in the task, yet they lack precision, which limits our band scores to band 7 because these ideas also apply to other age groups, such as college students and adults. In other words, adults also spend hours on their phones and, as a result, become socially alone and afflicted with health issues. 

Our ideas need to be specific to children in the early stages of physical and psychological development, so the adverse effects of spending hours on smartphones can cement bad habits early on, whose negative effects will emerge as they become adults. 

Also, most of what children do reflects the parenting styles with which they are being raised. Do modern parents spend enough time with their children? Are they strict enough to discipline their children? Don’t children often struggle to regulate their behavior? More importantly, do parents paint a dark picture of the outside world, pushing children to remain at home and choose to play games on their phones instead of going to the park?