Thoughts on giving young children a mobile phone/tablet?

Question

Young as in like 10 yrs old or younger?
I’ve seen/heard some people saying that they give their toddlers even mobile phones or tablets to play on (with restrictions and parental controls). 
What are your thoughts on this matter? 
I feel children should just be able to enjoy their childhood without having CONSTANT exposure to technology. It’s not necessary to always entertain them by having them go play games on tablets or phones. I’m not a parent myself but one day when I am one I want my kids to be able to grow up and experience things without technology constantly being a part of it
Feel free to drop your opinions in comments
**DISCLAIMER** I’m not condemning anyone that does this. This is a question of pure curiosity

Answer

My 2 year old has an iPad and I have no shame 🤷🏼‍♀️ there is a ton of educational stuff out there now and we're utilizing it. Since we gave it to him he has learned how to count to 20, his ABC's, shapes, colors, animals, all kinds of stuff that I worked on with him forever and it just wasn't clicking! He can identify some letters and numbers and his vocabulary has expanded so so much. I think it is a great tool in moderation. I still play with him and we color and explore outside and read and do everything else a kid needs that doesn't involve technology. He has no access to explore the internet and he won't for a very long time. Everything he plays or watches I have to approve myself

Answer

Personally, I'm against it. I just don't see a purpose. It really doesn't help hearing pediatricians say they are noticing a lot of littles being behind developmentally and not even able to use scissors properly because parents are handing them phones and tablets instead of having them do craft projects.

Answer

My daughter just got her first tablet and she is 4 years old. Everything for her school and class work is online because of COVID, so I got her one before the school year started. But even without this pandemic technology is often incorporated into learning and education. We’re living in a technology driven world, it’s not realistic to say kids shouldn’t be exposed to technology or different devices like that. It’s important for them to learn how to use them in order to excel in the world we live in. 
Now what I don’t agree with is parents handing their kids a phone, ipad, or tablet as a means to “babysit” and keep them entertained all day so they dont have to deal with them. In my opinion thats wrong. Screen time is fine in moderation. Personally I never gave my daughter screen time like that until she was already 3

Answer

Our son is 2 and enjoys looking at pictures and videos of himself on our phones. He laughs at videos of himself laughing. He also asks to call grandparents. Other than that, he has no device time - no games or apps. He won’t have that for many years either. My husband and I were both in high school when we got our first cell phones and in college when we got our first smartphones. I was married when I got an iPad. We have one tv in the house. We have work issued Chromebooks. We’re just not big technology people I guess.

Answer

My son is getting a tablet for his first birthday but it’s only for long car rides or when we literally can’t entertain him with anything else

Answer

Personally it’s not for me but each to their own ☺️

Answer

I agree with you . Pls dont chanhe ur views.

Answer

If we decide to let my son have a cell phone in middle school, it'll be a basic cell phone, probably a flip phone if those still exist when he's that age (he's only 2 months old). For sports, because if he's anything like his father he'll be playing all of them. In high school we may talk about upgrading him to a more advanced phone but with some restrictions depending on his age. And possibly having him watch the baby channel, I havent decided about that, but I want him doing educational things, and having educational toys that help with his development, and also playing outside in the dirt and being a kid, like how I grew up.

Answer

My stepdaughter is 5 and she has a “phone” (one is an IPod touch and the other is an old cellphone with no service but they’re both connected to Internet) at each parents’ house with educational games, a couple fun games, and it allows her to contact her parents when away from them. We do plenty of family activities and projects, and she barely touches the “phone” at our house anyway

Answer

Unlimited access? No. Balanced with lots of other activities, yes. Also w/ restrictions for content & discussions about the restrictions & limits. My 3.5 year old daughter had nothing until about 3 months ago, I got out her big brother’s old LeapPad. It only has educational games & no internet access. She plays with it between coloring, looking at books, building w/ blocks/Legos, playing dress up etc. etc. 
It’s harder with her brother who’s almost 10 because he has a different mom & at his mom’s house he has no enforced limits or restrictions so we eventually eased up a bit here. He also has ADHD & is obsessed with video games, it’s literally one of the only things he truly enjoys. During this summer with no day camp & his Dad working from home we made it one hour on/one hour off during the day. He has a Nintendo Switch for fun games & an IPAD for educational games & a Desktop for school & a learning how to do animation course, only the IPAD is kept in his room. He now has internet access on the Desktop but it’s in the same room his Dad works. At his mom’s house he has a TV, internet access, two video game systems, & a tablet in his bedroom. At our house he has a basic cellphone with only family members phone numbers programmed into it. We told him there wouldn’t be any upgrades until probably 8th grade at the earliest. We mostly got it so he could stay in better contact w/ his mom while at our house & also be able to chat with his grandparents who live in other states.

Thoughts on giving young children a mobile phone/tablet?

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