From the BBC:

Two children in Spain have been admitted to a mental health institution to be treated for addiction to their mobile phones, Spanish media report.

The children, aged 12 and 13, were sent to the clinic by their parents, who said they could not carry out normal activities without their handsets.

They were doing badly at school and lying to relatives in order to get money to spend on their phones.

They have been learning to cope without their phones for three months.

Dr Maite Utges, who runs the Child and Youth Mental Health Centre in Lleida, near Barcelona in north-eastern Spain, said it was the first time the clinic had treated children who were dependent on their mobile phones.

“They both showed disturbed behaviour and this exhibited itself in failure at school. They both had serious difficulties leading normal lives,” she was quoted in Spanish papers as saying.

The children had owned their phones for 18 months, and their parents had made little effort to restrict their use before noticing how serious their dependence had become.

So can you guess who the mute donkey in this story is? I’ll give you a hint, you could pick anyone involved and you wouldn’t be wrong.

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