Parents must supervise kids with smartphones
WHO would give a smartphone to a child at the age of 13 and leave them to their own devices? While the newly agreed digital age of consent in this country is 13, a new poll carried out in recent days found that two-thirds of parents don’t want children under the age of 14 to have such devices. This isn’t really surprising, but it does indicate that there are some parents who are comfortable with pre-teens and young teenagers having access to smart-phones, possibly unsupervised.
The age of a child having a mobile phone really isn’t this issue, rather the parental involvement and supervision.
Times have changed and in many cases, especially where secondary school pupils are involved, permitting them to have their own phone offers a certain level of reassurance to both parent and child in terms of accessibility and location. It is when parents are less au fait with smartphones than their offspring that problems can occur.
Every parent today has a responsibility to inform themselves about how this technology works and to ensure that their you children are not exposed to inappropriate content or unwanted or contact from potentially dangerous sources.
Like it or not, we are in a digital age, and even if we choose to reject it for the most part, the likelihood is that our children will not. Therefore, we have to familiarise ourselves with what they will be using and how they are communicating.
Schools are using tablets and online noticeboards, video tutorials and pre-recorded lessons in many cases, and all the evidence suggests that teenagers respond very well to this sort of teaching and that engagement is excellent. No child ‘needs’ a smart-phone, but they all want them and parents are put under a lot of pressure to accede to their requests.
There is no definite line that can be drawn in the sand to say when is the appropriate time to allow it, and every parent has to decide what it best for their own child, based on their own circumstances and the individual child’s maturity. What most parents do not agree with is allowing children and teenagers unsupervised access to a smart-phone and all the dangers it may present. With adequate supervision and a bit of common sense, there are benefits for both parent and child.