How young is too young for a phone?

At a Halloween party a few months ago, I was watching one of our neighbor's kids who is 2. She had already played with her Play-Doh, puzzles, and blocks. So, her mom gave her her iPhone. I couldn't believe my eyes. A 2-year-old was finding the YouTube app, finding Sesame Street videos, watching them, and selecting videos that were related. That took me 3 minutes to figure out when I started watching YouTube... at the age of 9... on the family computer. It was almost like she was born with the ability to do this. It got me thinking, how young is too young for an iPhone?

 When I was a little kid, iPhone's weren't even a thing yet until 2007. I never had apps or anything crazy on the internet. I was at my grandma's house playing house with my kitchen, dolls, and other toys. I played outside and not on the internet. That being said, now that I'm a teenager, things have definitely changed. Children under the age of 8 can open apps, take pictures, and even delete them. I ate dirt when I was 2, not playing Candy Crush. What's next? Babies will be able to tweet minutes after their born. "#FinallyOutOfTheWomb"

Some adults think that if they are educational apps and they are monitoring how long kids can be on, it's ok. I didn't have any educational apps growing up, and now I'm a high school freshman with a 4.0 GPA. Technology is limiting children's imaginations. Our creativity level was high which was so much fun. Kids can now view things we used to imagine as long as their Wifi is hooked up.

I was talking with some friends at lunch about this particular topic and we all agreed that this was crazy. I said I'm not letting my kids have any technology until their 9, which is how old I was when I got my iPod touch. It's important for kids to live their lives without any technology for the first 9-10 years of their life when their brain is still developing with new experiences. So, what do you think? How young is too young for a phone?

Signed, 
Midwestern Redhead

Comments

  1. GayleJune 3, 2018 at 8:38 AM

    Thank you for a great post. You are a warrior in a battlefield of technological insanity. Keep up the fight!

    ReplyDelete

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