At What Age Should Children get Phones?
As each year passes by, I seemingly see more and more young children with technology. Whether it is at a restaurant, on a park bench, or in the mall, parents have begun to rely on technology to entertain their children. Our new era of smartphones and screens has lead to a decrease of human interaction and an increase of screen time. Many argue that this will have a negative effect upon their minds and social skills, while others claim that it is just a new aspect of life that we have to adjust to as humanity progresses.
What age should parents give their children phones? According to HavenLife, the average 10.3 year old owns a phone, which is a drastic drop in age from the recent decade before. Although this age is quite low, there is no specific age or number you could use to measure when a child is phon ready. It should be according to the individual and determining whether they have developed the responsibility needed to keep one. The idea that there is a "magic number" is false.
Screens can be very addicting, especially for young children who haven't grown to learn time management skills and self control. That is something that I greatly struggle with as a highschooler. Being hyperconnected to the world around us makes it difficult to keep ourselves from checking our phone frequently and being able to put it down. Also, studies have shown a correlational relationship between having a phone and having low self-esteem and anxiety. Because this is not causation, we cannot be 100% sure that this is the cause, but logic seems to support that always seeing media with celebrities and models creates a bad image of yourself. Although there may be slight harmful effects, phones are essential to living a functional life. Without it, we would have no communication with others and isolated from the rest of society
What age should parents give their children phones? According to HavenLife, the average 10.3 year old owns a phone, which is a drastic drop in age from the recent decade before. Although this age is quite low, there is no specific age or number you could use to measure when a child is phon ready. It should be according to the individual and determining whether they have developed the responsibility needed to keep one. The idea that there is a "magic number" is false.
Screens can be very addicting, especially for young children who haven't grown to learn time management skills and self control. That is something that I greatly struggle with as a highschooler. Being hyperconnected to the world around us makes it difficult to keep ourselves from checking our phone frequently and being able to put it down. Also, studies have shown a correlational relationship between having a phone and having low self-esteem and anxiety. Because this is not causation, we cannot be 100% sure that this is the cause, but logic seems to support that always seeing media with celebrities and models creates a bad image of yourself. Although there may be slight harmful effects, phones are essential to living a functional life. Without it, we would have no communication with others and isolated from the rest of society
I myself wasn't given a phone until 6th grade and that was only because me and my sister had to go to separate schools. I believe determining when a kid should get their first phone should depend on when they will actually start to media. I think that many kids now don't want a phone for its most important use, calling for emergency or call family members, but for social media. Social media is such a big talk now and all kids can think about is social media its crazy even my cousin in 3rd grade is wanting a phone and for social media.
ReplyDeleteMy parents didn’t allow my sisters and I to have phones until we reached the 7th grade, simply because we would have to wait to get picked up after school. I don’t think giving kids phones is a big issue, but what they do on the phones more-so. The biggest concern of most parents nowadays is the negative impact that media exposure will have on their kids. I can see why that is a big issue, considering all the access young children now have to every bit of information out there. However, I think the privilege of having a phone should also come with the parent’s responsibility of being smart with what the children can and cannot have access to, as that will help limit the negative effects.
ReplyDeleteI got a phone around 6th grade, and it didn't really change much. It wasn't until I got to middle school when I would start to use my phone more, because instead of a single teacher I now had 6 different classes. We'd use a group chat to coordinate with friends and talk about stuff we did in school, simply because we didn't have the opportunity to talk to each other in real life as much any more.
ReplyDeleteWell, that, and Clash Royale. It was fun back then, ok?