Good day, amazing people of Hive Blockchain. Welcome back to my blog. It is another edition in the #hivelearners community. I am so delighted to participate in this week's prompt, smartphone age.
Currently, now at a tender age, every child wants to own a smartphone. While growing up, I didn’t use a smartphone. That does not mean that my childhood was boring; it was really fun. The time I had access to a phone was in my junior secondary school. Back then, there was nothing like a smartphone. The phone we had access to was a basic phone, which was for calls, text messages and games to kill boredom. Most times I would sit and ask myself, How did we get here? You will see a child of 6 or 7 operating smartphones as if they were born with them.
A child of 6 years owned a phone and operated it like a pro; most parents even go as far as to open a social handle for these kids. I understand that the world is going digital, but there should be limits to things a child should have access to. I just love the way my aunty is training her children. The eldest boy is 10 years old and has no smartphone. Recently he told the mom that he needs a smartphone and that all his classmates have one. My aunty was like, Well, are those your classmates and not you? My little nephew was so sad. I tried to talk to my aunt to see why she would get a smartphone for the son; she said not under her watch.
I just love the fact that my aunty monitors the activities of the kids; even when they are given assignments and need the help of Google, my aunty is always there to make sure that they don’t go to another site. I don’t blame my aunty for her actions. She was trying to prevent them from exposure so that they would come across content that would corrupt them. My aunt understands the fact that these kids are too tender and should not be allowed to use smartphones all by themselves without a parent guard.
In my aunt's words, a smartphone is a tool that opens doors to both the good and the bad. In my own opinion, kids should not be given access to mobile phones or have a social account at a tender age. I will not lie; smartphones have done us more harm than good when it comes to our children. Our children no longer read their books; they put all their energy on their social handles. A child who is below 18 should not have a smartphone.
For me it will not be bad if a child of 18 years owns a smartphone; at this stage it is assumed that the child is mentally mature and self-disciplined. At this age, their level of thinking has increased; they understand the rules of social media and can easily relate to me if they are being bullied online. It is very important that parents should monitor what their kids are doing with their smartphones.
I don’t buy the idea of giving these kids a smartphone at an early stage. Let them explore the world without a smartphone, and when they are of age, they can have full access to the phone.
This is my entry on the ongoing content #hivelearners #hl-w167e1 topic smartphone age.
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