Should I give my child a smartphone? If yes, what is the appropriate age? These are two questions many parents reflect on, particularly since they hold a growing concern for the safety of their child using smart phones and other technologies. There are several ways to childproof your electronics, but whether or not to give your child a smartphone or tablet to their own causes other issues to consider: what is the purpose of their give a smartphone? How will my child using the phone? Do I feel my child needs access to more advanced capabilities, such as GPS tracking, or access to any application from the App Store? Although there is not a universal age at which parents agree is the "right" age to give their child a smartphone, there are some things to consider that can help you decide what is best for you and your family. Here are some tips to help you determine whether or not your child is ready for a smartphone.
Weigh your options
If you or another family member is to take your children to school and bring them home every day, a smartphone may not be necessary especially if they are too young to participate in all sports, extracurricular activities and other events after school. However, if your children are involved in many activities after school or walk to school by themselves every day, you may want to have a line of communication with them. This can help you coordinate the pick-up time around their practices, study sessions or rehearsals and give you a heads-up if their activities are canceled on a particular day. It also contributes to the mind of the parents feel comfortable knowing their children have a way to contact someone in case they run into trouble on their walk home from school or while they wait for their tower.
Once you decide you do not want your child to have a cell phone, the next thing you need to consider is whether or not you want to give them a basic phone, with only the ability to place and receive calls or texts, or a smartphone with more advanced capabilities, including access to Internet applications and communications as Snapchat or Instagram. This choice may depend largely on the age of your child and what you think they are mature enough to handle such a basic cell phone with fewer features can be the best option for younger children.
consider the additional benefits
Smartphones are for more than games, social media and texting friends. There are many educational applications with excellent learning tools that parents can download for their children to use. If you opt for a smartphone to the educational benefits, but you always worry that your child is doing with the device when you are not there, there are parental control tools that allow you to monitor their activity. Net Nanny, for example, covers iOS, Android and Kindle Fire devices to help parents keep tabs on what their children are doing on their phone browser, messaging applications and social media accounts. Net Nanny also allows parents to set time limits on phone use and provides parents with alerts and reports the activity of their child. Read our control critical software parents to learn more.
An additional potential benefit for parents who choose to give their child a smartphone is the ability to track the physical location of the phone for their child. Most cell phone providers give parents the ability to track the smartphone of their child using GPS functions integrated on the phone. If you choose to enable this feature with your service provider, you can see when your child to school, when they are on the way home or heading to their extracurricular activities, and when they come home.
Talk about smart and safe use phone
In addition to restrictions on phone use (eg no use to the dinner table or a certain time every night), parents should engage their children as they try new applications and explore new parts of their phone. Sit down with them, ask important questions and make sure they are aware of potential safety issues. Many children, especially younger ones, can see no harm in what they do on the applications and online, but they could be unknowingly expose sensitive information such as a phone number or home address and you and your family by putting at risk of identity theft.
When it comes to determining what age is best to give you child a cell phone, the decision ultimately boils down to the preference of parents. If you think your child is better off without a phone or it is imperative to get a is a judgment call that every parent should do for themselves.
You can learn more about how to keep your children securely online parental controls on our blog.