The conversation around mobile phones and screen time has been going on for ages. When I was a teenager in the late 2010s, The belief then was that children were to be given mobile phones once they were 14 or 15 years old. This was satisfactory as social media wasn't such a vital part of all of the children's lives, and parents did not have the accessibility that could allow them to track their children all the time. Today, however, the age at which children are given phones has become substantially low. Earlier, parents did not want their children using phones. However, nowadays, when children go to school or outside, parents won't let them go without a phone. We see children as young as seven or eight years old using social media on their phones, iPads, etc. Indeed, giving a phone to your child at a very young age exposes them to the internet at an immature stage, and the screen time it exposes them to is also harmful. It is our job to try and protect children from such things as much as possible.
That being said, it is difficult to leave your kid without a phone in this day and age.It increases their security, our accessibility to them and also meets the standards of the ‘new normal’ where being up to date and aware involves being updated with technology. Even education for the younger of children requires these gadgets, especially with E-learning gaining momentum in the post-covid world. Hence it is not feasible for a child in the 21st century to function without a phone from the time they can understand and use it.
Alternative Solution
The question is no more about whether the children should be allowed phones as much as it is about at what age they should be allowed a phone with no parental control. Nowadays, children need to be given a phone as soon as they are around 7 to 8 years of age, to make sure that you can keep in touch with them and that they can keep up with all their schoolwork, extracurriculars etc. But while giving the phone, you have an option of setting up parental controls on it. Parent controls make sure that your child won't have access to certain kinds of inappropriate content. This is the only way to ensure that even with your child having a phone at a very young age, they aren't too exposed to social media, and their screen time is regulated.
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