I THOUGHT it was already bad that many of us, including me, are hooked on our mobile phones. It has become an addiction, I had to download an app to monitor my use and deliberately reduce it.

It's a daily struggle.

Then came Christmas Eve at mom's. They have Netflix there while my flat screen TV at home remains in the box.

Now I understand what my friends are groaning about. This movie subscription is more addictive and can hold you down on the sofa the whole day and night until hours past midnight, and that is bad.

These are precious hours lost. But the sad part is that you feel gratified losing them, and we are adults with, I assume, full control of ourselves. How are our children doing?

Sometime in the year 1999 to 2000, when Tiger Woods was winning one tournament after the other, I was lassoed into the fray and was hooked on watching his games. Normally, that's played over on a week from past midnight till dawn.

I knew that was bad and so I had my cable subscription canceled and never had one installed again. But of course, that was before smartphones lassoed us all in.

What was once a convenience now has the capability of shackling us, most of all our children, to hours and hours of wasted time.

Over the long holiday, as I sipped my hot soup in my favorite Korean restaurant, I saw a mother bring out a tablet to stop her toddler from fretting as they ordered their food. That worked, and a toddler sat quietly, hypnotized by the tablet. Their food came and the struggle to feed the child followed.

If we adults, discerning as we already are, still struggle against this addiction how much worse can our children become before they reach the age of discernment?