If you had asked me this question ten years ago, I would have passionately argued for it and would have insisted for every child to be given smartphones as early as they were entering Junior Secondary School I (that's averagely around 11-12years) and I would have had my reasons.
If you had asked me this question ten years ago, I would have passionately argued for it and would have insisted for every child to be given smartphones as early as they were entering Junior Secondary School I (that's averagely around 11-12years) and I would have had my reasons.
However, with time, experience and growth especially observing what has happened over the years with children who were "privileged" enough to own smartphones early enough, I now believe that smartphones should be delayed to atleast when the child Is about 17-18 years.
I picked this age not just because this is the official age of adulthood in Nigeria and many countries but because this is also the age I believe many children begin to clearly define their path in life; the child can clearly differentiate between good and evil and make his choices which will still be influenced by lots of factors such as environment and smartphones.
Just as Sigmund Freud characterised the different stages of development, we know that active learning starts around age five when the child can even be able to grasp simple teachings. Deeper thinking and critical reasoning develop later in life. Similarly, I think phone has got an age where it would be more beneficial than harm to the child.
The greatest argument against denying children smartphones at early ages will always be that of how it contributes to learning, enabling them to understand things faster even outside classrooms because of the various educational videos out there on YouTube and many platforms, but let's be honest, in reality, how many of these children use this phone for the so-called educational purposes?
I know this quite well because it was the reason that landed me my first android phone when I was Twelve years old and I'm not even mincing words with you, that phone never helped me In anyway academically... It were still my notebooks, textbooks and classes that mattered because whenever I get hold of the phone, it's basically from one WhatsApp to Facebook to YouTube to watchfootball matches highlights and finally watch hundreds of movies... I can't remember asking the Chrome "what is photosynthesis?" for once but I remember thousands of times I went to ask when the next season will be coming out and to download the latest Mortal Kombat game.. Maybe I was unserious, lol
But jokes asides, that's just the cycle we keep going through especially when given smartphones at such ages.
But by Seventeen years, I was preparing for series of exams ( POST-UTME , JAMB and WAEC, NECO) and that was when I knew the smartphone was a powerful tool.
I was then intentional about using it and then I was more matured to know where to get what I needed from the smartphone and not just following Ads blindly to where they led me.
That remains the difference!
When it comes to smartphones, it's not even about a matter of if it will work out or not, it's a matter of you should make it work out because when you go over the social media everyday, you'll get to see thousands of children who keep engaging in some immoralities they don't even know about, they are just deceived by someone they met on some sort of social media and in no distance time, they're already misbehaving.
This is not me saying that everyone handed a smartphone before that age ends up becoming irresponsible, nah, that's not what I mean, but in just saying that the odds are higher when children are given such a powerful weapon at a young age and they're not properly guided.
The first ever phone I used, (not a smartphone) was when I was Nine years old but guess what? That phone was preloaded with educational songs, one soccer game and make calls, that was all. It couldn't even access the internet. This phone helped me a lot because I had songs that helped me explain some difficult topics with musics and in the same time provided me a form of recreational activity while also helping me bridge the gap of communication before I got the first smartphone at Twelve years old and everything turned around, lol.
In summary, I still believe children should be handed over smartphones by Seventeen years at most because then, they can make decisions on what exactly they want from this smartphones and believe me, Seventeen years is never too late to not become a tech guru or a digital expert so let's not deceive ourselves with the shouts of ,in this digital age!!!?
But regardless of when you personally want to hand over your child a smartphone since there's no universal age, I believe proper supervision will help minimise the dangers of leading them astray.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day ahead 👍