I will admit that I am holding off as long as possible with smartphones for my DC. But once they reach Y6/Y7 and are making their own way to school, they definitely need to be able to do some basic communication both with parents and with friends.
For this reason I've given DC a dumbphone. And so far it's working well, and he's able to keep in touch with friends and us. And when I see him on it, I am reassured that all he is doing is talking to his friends as it does nothing other than call and text.
But I completely accept that there are valid reasons why parents want to give their child a smartphone. The main ones being:
- parents being able to track DC location
- for app only bus/train passes
- access to maps and navigation
But the one thing I will never understand is why some parents allow them to have games on it?
It's giving them a 24/7 games console that will be burning a hole in their pocket and constantly distracting them from every other important thing in life. I understand you can set limits, but I also understand that kids will do everything they can sometimes to get what they want, either through pestering or hacking!
Why not just keep the phone for communication and have the tablet/games console at home for games. Then it's much easier to supervise what they are doing and impose limits.
I saw a friend of DC walking to school the other day, and he was so engrossed by the game on his phone he crossed the road without looking once.
Even though I don't agree, I can understand the arguments for allowing other features of a smartphone for young kids. But there is no argument anyone can make that a child needs games on their phone.