When it comes to raising kids and parenting, I think it’s only people who have had kids that are fit enough to talk about the experience of raising children in these last days. My mother will always tell me, “Till you have your own kids, you’ll never be able to understand exactly how to raise a little being from an infant to a responsible adult.” I agree with that 100% because there is more to raising kids than just making sure they don’t lack the basic necessities of life.
I’ve had scenarios where people say things like, “When I start having kids, I won’t allow them to do this or that” and all those kinds of lines. I can’t help but laugh mentally. We’ll have to wait and see.
Seeing this prompt about kids, smartphones, and the appropriate age a child should own a smartphone and social media account made me think a little back to the time I was growing up and how my parents handled the matter. I didn’t own a proper smartphone till I was almost done with secondary school. At that time, some of my peers already had their own phones. They would sneak them into school and use them for non-school-related things, even while class was going on. They would always talk about the movies they downloaded, the things they posted, and all of that.
Low-key, I also wanted to have my own phone and experience all the thrills that came with it, but I knew I had to prove myself responsible if I ever wanted to get my own. The only device I was allowed to own was a small Nokia button phone, strictly for calls in case something happened at home and I needed the attention of an adult. As I grew, my need for a smartphone increased, especially for schoolwork, assignments, research, further learning, and all that. I was allowed to use a smartphone for these purposes only because they were necessary. My mom would let me use hers, and I had to return it immediately after I was done. No social media, no nothing.
Comparing those times to today’s digital age, a lot has definitely changed. For some reason I still don’t understand, kids today are experts with smartphones. The way they navigate through phones, you’d think they were taught from the womb. My niece once picked up my phone, which I had accidentally left unlocked, and within seconds she activated a strange setting I had never seen before. It took me a while to figure out what she did before I could get my phone back to normal. She even discovered how to unlock both her parents’ phones and mine, and she’s always so swift with it. A child barely 2 years old.
We started making sure phones weren’t left around her because she would cry if you didn’t give her one to do whatever she wanted. I had let her see me type in my password, watch movies, and scroll through social media. That was enough.
I don’t think it’s totally ideal to prevent kids from using smartphones, especially when it comes to schoolwork and educational purposes. But what I don’t support is letting them own smartphones with social media access and no guidance at all. Every time I’m on TikTok, I see one of my younger cousins dancing and doing all these cringe trends, and I wonder who even entrusted her with a phone.
The focus should be on parents ensuring that their kids understand the dangers of social media before letting them have accounts. Some of the bad content we see online just pops up, we don’t even search for it. Now imagine a child constantly seeing those things with an underdeveloped brain. That’s the beginning of trouble.
In my opinion, I’ll let my kids grow up first before entrusting them with smartphones or access to social media. If they need a phone for research, they’ll use mine. I’ll guide them and teach them how to use phones responsibly. One can only try their best in raising kids in this digital world, but with the right effort, they can grow to use phones to do meaningful things, just like we’re doing with ours to write blogs, add value, and earn clean money.
