Initiating children into the digital world

Greetings everyone!

One thing I have come to understand in raising children is that there is actually no manual or pattern to follow because homes, people, parents, lifestyles, cultures, and environments differ a lot. What will work for Family A living in Lagos might not work for Family B living in a deep rural area, and the same thing goes for families living in developed countries.

While a lot of families, parents, and even cultures believe that allowing a 10-year-old child access to a phone will corrupt the child easily, some parents and cultures also believe that giving a child access to a phone will help the child learn and pick up things more quickly.

I have a family I'm very close to in my city of residence — in fact, I call them family members too because of the way we relate. They have three children, and up till today, they don’t allow their children to be posted on social media. That law freaks me out a lot because the children and I use the camera frequently, and we have good and funny photos, but I can't share them on social media — not even on my WhatsApp status that disappears after 24 hours. Meanwhile, one of them is 12 years or so.

One day, I got curious and asked them why. They came up with superstitions and said they believe that they don't want the photos of their children to be used for evil through social media.

“So this means that you're not allowing them to get into social media until they're grown, right?” I asked, and the father confirmed, yes.
I had other controversial questions to ask him, but I decided to keep mute and respect his decision.

As for me, I want my children to be tech-savvy. I don’t want them to be dull, as I have seen how that situation can be frustrating. Giving them access to smartphones at an early age is okay for me, but they will be restricted from certain things.

I know that when a child becomes very smart, it can be difficult to restrict some apps from functioning or to block access to certain websites — but I will do it. I will put some restrictions on websites and lock access to others so they can only access what I want them to.

We are in an era where information is easily communicated via social apps instead of regular phone calls.
At their early age — say 8 years — I will give them access to smartphones. They will be allowed to use WhatsApp only and other simple websites, where they can easily communicate with me, but they will be restricted from going deep into addictive social apps like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and others. Those apps have a way of stealing and restructuring a child's brain. The smartphone will be for communication, learning, and relaxation in terms of watching meaningful videos. These are things I will monitor from time to time.

For sure, I know digital stuff and can easily tell if something fishy is going on with the phone or if they’ve trespassed into areas I warned against. I know it's very hard for parents to monitor these things, but it's doable — and that’s a parent’s responsibility.

I can only allow them to go deep into social media like Facebook and others when they have reached the age of 15 or thereabouts, or possibly earlier, depending on their advancement in maturity.

Thanks for reading

Photo source: MetaAi