06/08/2026
๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ, ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ ๐ถ๐๐
There is a peculiar silence that echoes through Filipino homes today. Not the silence of peace, but the silence of occupied minds.
I noticed it on an ordinary afternoon.
School had drained every ounce of energy from me. I kicked off my shoes, tossed my sweat-soaked uniform onto the closet, reached for my phone, and opened Mobile Legends One the defeat became another then another.
โIsa na lang. Bawi tayo."
The familiar lies every player tells themselves.
My mother called me for dinner.
โWait lang, Nay. One game na lang."
She did not answer. Instead, she handed me a few coins and told me to buy something from the neighborhood sari-sari store.
Along the way, I heard another voice.
โWait lang, Ma. One game na lang."
The words stopped me.
They sounded exactly like mine.
A few steps farther, a little boy sat glued to an iPad, shouting insults no child should know. Every defeat was answered with another curse, each word sounding strangely rehearsedโas though the internet had become his first language.
His parents never looked up.
Their eyes were fixed on another screen.
It struck me that the child had inherited more than a screen.
He had inherited their absence.
Further down the street, another family gathered around the dinner table. The rice was still warm. The food sat untouched. It seems like the conversation had quietly surrendered to endless scrolling. Four people shared one meal, yet each seemed to be eating alone.
I wondered if this had become the new Filipino family portraitโnot broken by distance, but by distraction.
When I arrived home, the evening news filled the room with another tragedy. A horrific school shooting had reignited public calls to ban violent video games.
Whenever tragedy strikes, we search for something we can point at.
A game.
A smartphone.
An application.
A screen.
Blaming technology comforts us because it offers a villain with an uninstall button. It is far easier to ban software than to confront the things no legislation can measure: the conversations that never happened, the cries for help dismissed as teenage moods, the warning signs ignored, and the homes where presence quietly surrendered to convenience.
Do not mistake me
I do not defend unhealthy gaming habits. But banning online games cuts the branches while leaving the roots untouched. The real problem begins long before a child ever logs in.
Violence has never been downloaded from an application.
It grows where loneliness is left unanswered, where anger is left untreated, where discipline is replaced with devices, and where children learn more from algorithms than from the people who were meant to raise them.
Technology has never created character.
It only magnifies what is already there.
A phone can teach a child to code or teach them cruelty. The internet can introduce a student to a scholarship or to a scam. A screen can connect a father working overseas to his familyโor separate a father sitting beside them at dinner.
The question has never been whether technology is dangerous.
The question is whether we have become too absent to teach the next generation how to live with it.
Children do not merely need stricter internet regulations.
They need parents who notice before disciplining.
Teachers who listen before judging.
Communities that guide before condemning.
Leaders who invest not only in digital policies but also in mental health, education, and family welfare.
Because no law, no application, and no algorithm will ever replace the quiet power of a family that chooses to be present.
Perhaps the greatest crisis of our generation is not that children are always logged in.
It is that too many are being raised out.
| via Mitch Dianne Pabila
| Layout by Therese Jan Pauleen Guion
| Courtesy: Britannica
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position, views, or policies of The Ledger Publication of the College of Business, University of San Agustin. The publication does not endorse or assume responsibility for the opinions, interpretations, or conclusions expressed herein. This column is published to encourage critical thought, discussion, and informed discourse.
