Smartphones In Children

Many people cannot remember their lives before smartphones. Children around 10 years old are often influenced by their peers’ actions and the luxuries they have, regardless of whether they need it or not. Being born in a generation where smartphones are considered to be very vital to a child’s success, it is understandable why this could be an issue for parents. However, children that are 10 years old or younger do not need this form of responsibility. Kids under the age of 10 shouldn’t be given smartphones due to the ways phones are critical to healthy social and physical development, detrimental to communication skills, and the distractions they cause.

Smartphones can be very critical to social and physical development, and getting one for

Jane E. Brody, a personal health columnist, writes that she wonders and fears that, “we are turning into digital robots. Will future generations know how to converse with one another face to face?”, showing how people are becoming dependent on the luxury of communicating with someone through a screen whom they have never talked to face-to-face before (Brody 3). Seeing how they can communicate with anyone they want at any time, children are going to take advantage of this indulgence. They are going to get into the habit of only communicating with people through their phone screens and eventually forget what it’s like to introduce themselves to someone and begin a conversation with a stranger in person, which is essential in life. In Stephanie Olsen’s article, “When to Buy Your Child a Cellphone”, The Pew Study found that, “half of 12- to 17-year-olds sent 50 text messages a day and texted their friends more than they talked to them on the phone or even face to face,” showing how this is a common pattern in teens and young adults (Olsen 2). Even teenagers who are around the age of driving and have an easier way of transportation and seeing people face-to-face struggle with communication outside of a phone. If a child younger than this, such as a 10 year old, was given a smartphone to communicate with other people, they would develop the dependency of communicating with people through a screen rather than in person at an earlier age. The earlier they get into this habit, the earlier it is prone to