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The Average Age For a Child Getting Their First Smartphone Is Now 10.3 Years (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A TechCrunch article, citing a report on Influence Central, states that the average age for a child getting their smartphone is now 10.3 years. The report adds that 64% of kids have access to the Internet via their own laptop or tablet, compared to just 42% in 2012. Also, 39% of kids get a social media account at 11.4 years, and 11% get a social media account when they were younger than 10.
I'm not that strict with the phones or anything else -- but I'm not far behind.
My kids have RDP terminals in their rooms with just enough bandwidth to run word/excel. The main computer is in the dining room (on wheels when we need the full space for guests). All homework is done at the dining room table.
Only my son (16) has a smart phone and he pays for service himself. The phone, however, is mine. He's not allowed to "own" a phone until he pays rent. Phones aren't allowed in the house during the week except early evening (after homework/dinner and before 10pm). Weekends are a bit more generous.
The cool thing is I wrote a chore tracker which they need to fill out every day or they automagically lose internet access on all their devices (except access to the tracker). They just need to fill out if they did a task and if not provide a reason. It wont cut them off if they dont do their choirs -- just if they dont report it. I can cut them off or return access from my phone anywhere with an internet connection. They're pretty honest about filling it out and know if they lie and get caught it's a week without internet.
A year or two ago I would have said I'd never buy a little a tablet or smartphone. My one year old daughter ended up at a childcare place where they use ipads, and she got an iPad. Very soon she was counting to ten with Elmo, saying "Caillou throw ball", and other things that most kids don't do until after they are two years old. Now, at 24 months old, she's about 6-9 months ahead on most of her skills. That's "only" 6-9 months, but it's also about 30% ahead.
Our kids have an iPad too, but it is locked down. Email, web browsing, the app store, are all turned off.
To even get apps to update I have to sign in and do it myself.
Nothing wrong with such a device, so long as you know how to control it.