Children are gifts. They are pure innocent souls that need to be guided and protected. More importantly, they need to be brought up right so that they can also become useful to themselves and to society at large.
What's the appropriate age for kids to use smart phones?
Before I give my answer, I would like to state that kids are tender not just physically but mentally and emotionally. Imagine the negative effects that having smart phones causes to adults, then contrast it against the young minds of kids. You can already tell where I'm headed right?
Some of us as adults have fallen prey to the negative effects of social media despite our physical, emotional, mental and even social maturity. The digital world is a vast space that allows for anything and everything without a care for morality and ethics.
This is why I propose that kids should attain legal age before they are allowed to own smartphones or even dabble into the world of social media.
Are there noteworthy issues?
Of course, there are lots of issues that could arise from kids handling smartphones at a minor age. To mention a few, there are issues like….
Indiscipline
There are certain digital contents that promote indiscipline and this could be inculcated into the young minds of kids who own smartphones through watching such contents. This way, kids who should be respectful and understand boundaries would now become too bring to control.
Addiction
I have a lot to say about this. We know how addictive some social media sites can be. Personally, I'm hooked on #Youtube. It takes deliberate and conscious effort to keep my eyes away from that app. For some adults, it is tik tok or Facebook
I don't think that I would be happy seeing my daughter on her phone for most of the day. To me, that's being unproductive. Kids who are still in school should have time for their studies and for other physical activities that help them develop well.
Isolation
Since the advent of smartphones and social media, there's been an increase in lack of socialization. Many adults have more online friends than physical friends. The need to physically connect has now been reduced due to social media.
This could happen to kids as well and imagine what that would do to their psyche and development. Kids need bonding with families and with their friends but once a kid owns a social media account, I doubt that such a kid would even want to relate with his or her parents and that would be so bad, on all levels.
There are many more issues that I can mention like cyber-bullying, exposure to nudity and free sexual contents and many more.
I am not against children being digitally oriented. There are good gadgets that are solely designed for kids learning. They come with kid friendly apps and games to keep children active and entertained while still protecting them from the dangers of online hazards.
These safe devices can be given to kids to help them as they pursue their life goals. Only when they attain legal age should they be allowed to own social media accounts or even smartphones. I don't fully know how things work in most countries but in mine, this would surely be a good plan to help keep our children's space safe and hazard free.
Also, raising our kids with right morals and ethics can guide them when it is time to dive into social media. They won't be carried away as they would have gotten a sound and solid foundation.
I hope that with these few points of mine, I have been able to clearly point out why kids should not handle social media or smartphones until later
This is my entry to the hive learners weekly edition #167 e1
Thank you all for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts below in the comments 😁.