Kirubel Dejene

Professor Lindsey Slanker

English 1201

24 November 2019

It wasn’t that long ago when parents had to choose when their child should get a
job. Now with technology on the rise parents are now worrying when their child
should own a smartphone. A couple of years ago we would think that the best
age for a child owning a smartphone would be in high school. Now children
have a smartphone well before highschool starts. Kids are starting to get good at
using touch screen devices at around six years old. Responsibility is not fully
developed when your a kid and that is what is needed when owning a
smartphone. A lot of parents buy their children smartphones to keep in touch
with them while they’re doing other activities away from their parents.

Smartphones could be a problem for the next generation with face-to-face

interactions. Instead of meeting with people they will just use their phone to
communicate with them. Phones could also be positive for many reasons, if
someone lives very far away then you could communicate with them on the
phone, but for children that is not really needed because they’re parents or
guardians should have a phone that they could use to make calls on. Another
good reason is because you can get great educational apps and talk with your
friends. But some children take those tools and apps on their phones to
advantage and download some bad apps without anyone knowing and that can
cause a child to post or say something bad on the internet. That is why parents
need to be very close to their children’s phones and check the phone frequently.
Parents should teach and talk to their children about what a phone can do and
the things it could cause for them and their future. Smartphones can also cause
cyberbullying which could also cause depression and other problems for a child.
Even in schools, some teachers will have activities that will require a phone to
be used. Most people believe that the longer you wait to give your child a
smartphone the better. The child’s brain should develop and become more
responsible before they own a smartphone. A child could also access
information from a computer but it is different for a smartphone because a
smartphone is handheld so it can be taken anywhere and outside of parental
supervision.

Parents need to set boundaries for their children if they have a smartphone.
Smartphones are addicting for not only children but everyone and they distract
us in our everyday lives. Some parents don’t monitor what their children do on
their phones and some of those children end up getting in trouble with the law
for saying or doing something bad on their phone. Children will always disagree
when a parent monitors their phone but it’s for the better. There are no
guidelines on smartphones and a child can access anything they want if they try.
That is why the only guideline a smartphone can have for a child is a parent, the
parents should give the children limits on what they can and can’t do, if the
rules are not followed then the phone should be taken away for some time to let
the child know what they did wrong. Parents should also not let their children
have social media. Social media is a trap for disaster for young children because
you can access so much on it and once you make a bad mistake it’s hard to
come back from it. Smartphones also can give children a lot of freedom to do
whatever they want if it is not monitored by the parents. There is a study that
shows that children that stay on their phone for more than five hours have a high
chance to become obese. They also can mess up sleeping schedules and get
children less exercise.

The average age of a child getting a phone gets younger and younger by the
year. As of now the average age of a child owning a smartphone is ten years old,
according to the New York Times, down from twelve a couple years ago.
Parents are getting tired of their children asking for a smartphone so they just
hand it to them. Children will never stop asking unless you give them a certain
time you will get it for them. Also, children are more quiet and calm when they
have their own phone. Which gives parents their own time to relax and take a
break. I believe that parents should always keep an eye on what they do on their
phones no matter what the circumstances. Some parents enjoy the quietness in
their house but the more they are hooked on their phones the more they will
have the chance to find more apps and websites they shouldn’t be on.

Bill Gates didn’t let his children get their own phones until they were in high
school, according to Inc. I also believe that’s the best age for a child to get a
smartphone. High school is like the beginning of when a child turns into a
responsible teenager and knows what’s good or bad to do on their smartphone.
There is no perfect age to get a child a smartphone, the best time to get one for a
child is when the parent feels he/she is responsible enough to have their own
phone. I understand that parents buy their children smartphones to keep in
contact with them. But big-name companies still sell flip phones. That means
that some parents buy smartphones because their children want it. If parents
need a phone for their children and they get a smartphone, some phones have
parental controls so the parent can restrict access from some applications.
Although this setting will lower the chances of children accessing inappropriate
apps, the smartphone could still be addicting for children by games and other
applications that children enjoy. According to CBS News, smartphones are used
as little computers that can fit in your pocket. Children also use it to help them
cheat on tests at school, problems like that bring up questions. “Should the
cellphones be kept in their book bag or locker?”, for example. ​Deciding when to
get your child a smartphone has less to do with age and more to do with action
on both the parent and child’s part, according ​to Jill Anderson. This statement is
true because sometimes age is just a number but maturity comes within.
This topic shows parents that there is no right answer for when your child
should get a smartphone. All the reasons listed in the essay that they should or
should not get smartphones at a certain age will help parents decide but each
reason has a side effect to it. The age of children owning a phone will always be
a storyline that will always have a questionable answer. As technology
continues to grow phones will become more improved with more technology
that could be good or bad for children that own smartphones in the future.
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