What Age Should a Child Get a Smartphone?
The question every parent struggles with in this technologically driven world is, “what age should my child get a smartphone?” The answer is different for every family because each of us live under different circumstances. There are some telltale signs of when your child may be ready for a smartphone. There are many things to take into consideration when you debate how old your child will be when you opt in for that smartphone device.
Here are some things many parents take into consideration before setting the age limit on when their child will get a smartphone:
No more Land Line
With the age of land lines no longer being in homes, many parents are faced with having to hand over their smartphone to the child to speak to their friends. Children rarely have a landline in the home to send and receive phone calls and often times kids as young as eight have a smartphone and prefer to text. While this isn’t the first sign that your child needs a smartphone, it is probably one of the biggest reasons parents opt to get a smartphone that stays at home for their children’s use. A household smartphone is a good place to start to ensure your child learns the responsibility of using such a device.
Brain Development
There’s another thing to think about when it comes to determining the proper age to give your child a smartphone, biological development. The younger your child is the less impulse control they have. Let’s say you give your eight year old a smartphone, well they are more apt to get into apps and internet items that shouldn’t be seen by this young child. They may reply to text messages to their friends in a way that isn’t proper, and that’s because they are still immature and still lack the proper brain development to control that impulse feeling. This is a big deal, because it can actually get parents calling you citing that your child is doing inappropriate things online and in turn ruin friendships of children and adult parents.
Cost of Having Smartphone
Many parents will opt to wait until their child is a job holding teenager so that the teen can pay for their own smartphone. Many parents already have bills piling high and groceries to get for the family, the last thing parents want is another bill so that their child can have fun, converse with friends and perhaps become lazily glued to that smartphone device. Many parents would prefer to teach their child the responsibility of paying for a device so that perhaps they take better care of it and listen to the rules their parents set forth to not lose a device that they are actually putting money towards.
There you have it a few things to consider when you are trying to determine what age a child should get a smartphone. There’s no right or wrong answer, it’s a personal parental decision but as you can see there are few things to take into consideration before handing over the World Wide Web to your kids at their fingertips.
About the Author: Brandy Ellen is a Positive Lifestyle Blogger born and raised in New Hampshire, USA. Brandy is a successful work from home mom of three who enjoys inspiring others to live life fully.
Learn more about Brandy at https://brandyellen.com/.
