Should Children Own Smart Phones?

Over the years, the rise of new technology has been majorly affecting our everyday lives. We don’t realize sometimes how much our smartphones are a necessity, from posting on Instagram to sending important texts. Do preschool children really need phones when they are young?

Lack of Supervision

One of the factors of having a smartphone is independence. If you consider that with a cell phone, a child will simply have another way to communicate with the world that you will have little supervision over. There are social media apps such as Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat that a child could easily download and talk to strangers online. Some strangers aren’t always the most well-intentioned and might even hide their identity online. With just the Internet, you never know if someone is genuine or concealing his or her true identity. With almost all smartphones having internet access, it’s difficult for a parent to keep track of what their kid is doing online. There are parental controls on most smartphones, but many parents don’t know how to activate these on their child’s phone.

Distractions

Another factor is that phones are very distracting. A child might start doing badly in school if they start being really addicted to phones early on. A child might even get into an accident such as when crossing the street if they are looking down at their phones. Parents also pay less attention towards their kids by giving them a phone to occupy their time, yet another negative.

Overall Danger

Parents who give their kids this luxury of having a smartphone are giving their kids basically anything on the internet. Their kid might stumble across pictures or videos that the parent would never want them to see or even encounter people that they would never want their kid to be talking to. All in all, preschool children should not be allowed a phone. There’s just too much vulnerability and distraction that comes with smartphones.