Smartphones have become near-universal among children, with up to 91% of 11-year-olds owning one. Here's what to consider when deciding if your child is ready for one.
As someone who was on computers being social from a very young age, I really don’t get why there’s so much push back on the smartphone, rather than setting healthy boundaries and having important discussions with children. As the article states, there’s basically no correlation of smartphone use with just about anything, except a lower life satisfaction score one year after high use of social media in a longitudinal study, but this probably holds true for many adults as well.
To me it seems like the big factors here is that a parent needs to be involved with their child’s use of a smartphone and involved in their child’s life in a way that many people aren’t nowadays. You need to be having regular conversations about the kids emotional state, how they perceive the world, some kinda check-in system to proactively identify where problems might arise and how to navigate complicated concepts with regards to socialization, mental health, and well-being.
I also think the article points out something important, and certainly relevant in my life. I couldn’t wait to grow up because as a child, no one listened to me, my concerns, my needs, my wants, and they were incredibly hypocritical about what I was allowed to do and not do
“Children hate hypocrisy,” says Livingstone. “They hate feeling they’re being told off for something that their parents do, like using the phone at mealtimes or going to bed with a phone.”
I think many parents take the lazy approach of not explaining adult concepts to their children and simply walling them off from experiencing the world. While some children might ultimately be okay with this, it doesn’t work for everyone and I don’t think it’s the right way to treat children.
I think many parents take the lazy approach of not explaining adult concepts to their children and simply walling them off from experiencing the world.
A lot of parents do this in my experience where I live. My wife and I have always kept open communication channels with our sons. Our sons know that they can talk to us about anything and we include them in most of our conversations. This is how you build emotional intelligence that they will, greatly, benefit from later in life. Heck, they are already getting huge benefits now.
My wife and I have offered to let them play around with our smartphones but they aren’t interested. We’re not pushing back against technology…we just want them to develop as healthy as possible so we restrict their media intake a little.
“Children hate hypocrisy,” says Livingstone. “They hate feeling they’re being told off for something that their parents do, like using the phone at mealtimes or going to bed with a phone.”
That’s an odd argument, since there are many things that are allowed for adults and not for kids, and nobody views this as hypocritical.
That’s an odd argument, since there are many things that are allowed for adults and not for kids, and nobody views this as hypocritical.
Howso? If I tell my 5 year old “You can’t play with a tablet at the dinner table” while sitting there staring at my phone, they’re rightfully gonna be pissed at the double standard. “Do as I say, not as I do” is a shit parenting tactic.
Kids have an acute sense of fairness that gets subjugated out of them if you don’t foster it.
Just because it’s legal for me to drink alcohol doesn’t make it less hypocritical to drink one while lecturing about how bad it is for you.
As someone who was on computers being social from a very young age, I really don’t get why there’s so much push back on the smartphone, rather than setting healthy boundaries and having important discussions with children. As the article states, there’s basically no correlation of smartphone use with just about anything, except a lower life satisfaction score one year after high use of social media in a longitudinal study, but this probably holds true for many adults as well.
To me it seems like the big factors here is that a parent needs to be involved with their child’s use of a smartphone and involved in their child’s life in a way that many people aren’t nowadays. You need to be having regular conversations about the kids emotional state, how they perceive the world, some kinda check-in system to proactively identify where problems might arise and how to navigate complicated concepts with regards to socialization, mental health, and well-being.
I also think the article points out something important, and certainly relevant in my life. I couldn’t wait to grow up because as a child, no one listened to me, my concerns, my needs, my wants, and they were incredibly hypocritical about what I was allowed to do and not do
I think many parents take the lazy approach of not explaining adult concepts to their children and simply walling them off from experiencing the world. While some children might ultimately be okay with this, it doesn’t work for everyone and I don’t think it’s the right way to treat children.
A lot of parents do this in my experience where I live. My wife and I have always kept open communication channels with our sons. Our sons know that they can talk to us about anything and we include them in most of our conversations. This is how you build emotional intelligence that they will, greatly, benefit from later in life. Heck, they are already getting huge benefits now.
My wife and I have offered to let them play around with our smartphones but they aren’t interested. We’re not pushing back against technology…we just want them to develop as healthy as possible so we restrict their media intake a little.
That’s an odd argument, since there are many things that are allowed for adults and not for kids, and nobody views this as hypocritical.
Howso? If I tell my 5 year old “You can’t play with a tablet at the dinner table” while sitting there staring at my phone, they’re rightfully gonna be pissed at the double standard. “Do as I say, not as I do” is a shit parenting tactic.
Kids have an acute sense of fairness that gets subjugated out of them if you don’t foster it.
Just because it’s legal for me to drink alcohol doesn’t make it less hypocritical to drink one while lecturing about how bad it is for you.
Good points, but I think this was more about general society-wide rules, not about specific patterns of behavior.