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IT’S A GOOD month for Colin Farrell’s fans, who have been deprived of the #content for a couple of months now. Colin spoke about his year-long break from the public eye during his appearance on Ellen two weeks ago, and since then he’s been in and out of the news non-stop, basically. 

On top of that, there’s an appearance on The Late Late Show to look forward to this evening, and earlier this week he prerecorded an interview for tomorrow night’s episode of The Jonathan Ross Show (which airs on ITV at 10pm, if you fancy tuning in). 

During this interview, Colin had yet another conversation about his sons (his son Henry was one of the main topics of discussion on Ellen), telling Jonathan Ross that he loves going to work because it’s a slower pace than what he’s got to keep up with when he’s at home. 

The 42-year-old actor said:

I try to keep up with them two fellas. I go to work for a rest. They’re the loves of my life, but they’re intense little lads. School runs, baths, lunches, maybe the odd hike, films and stuff. 

And like most kids whose fathers work a lot, the boys have become accustomed to having the run of the house when Colin’s away, which means that they usually can’t wait to see the back of him. Colin told Jonathan Ross that the last time he said goodbye to his sons, he told them, “I’ll FaceTime you”, to which they replied, “No, no, no. Don’t worry about it! Go and have your experience. We’ll be here when you get back.” 

While talking about how he likes to spend his time at home with the family, Colin said that, “The advance of technology is a curse. For me as a dad, iPads are a curse”, while admitting:

I’m guilty as well because if I want half an hour to have a bit of breath and be left alone in the house… It’s so easy and it just becomes kind of a surrogate parent. 

It’s obvious that Colin doesn’t have the same working hours as the average parent. Or the same limited resources as most parents.

There’s been so much debate over the last few years about the dangers of distracting kids with iPads, tablets, smartphones or whatever else kids are playing with these days. Some people are so disgusted at the thoughts of a child entertaining themselves with their parent’s phone on the bus, while others are much more lax. 

Kids can learn a lot from technology, so as long as you know exactly what they’re doing on that phone of yours, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to distract your kids with a phone or tablet. And it’s certainly not “child abuse” as some public figures have claimed in the past. As with basically everything else in the world, moderation is important. Sure, didn’t your own parents get you a Game Boy to shut you up 20 years ago? 

What do you think?

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