“Before You Hand Them a Smartphone… Read This First”
A few months ago, I was sitting in a trotro, watching this 8-year-old glued to a phone that was literally the size of his face. His tiny fingers swiped like a pro, hopping between TikTok dances and some violent-looking game where things exploded every two seconds.
His mum sat next to him, half-asleep. I’m not judging — parenting is hard. Sometimes, you just want silence. And a smartphone can feel like a godsend when your child won’t sit still.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days.
Now, new research is saying it out loud: don’t give smartphones to kids under 13. And honestly? I’m not surprised.
Look, I’m not a parent (yet), but I’ve got nieces and nephews who are growing up way too fast. I swear, one of them asked me if I was “still on Facebook” like it was some fossil from the Stone Age. And they’re only 10. Ten!
We live in a time where screens raise our kids more than bedtime stories do. Where “likes” are more important than playground friendships. And it’s not just about too much screen time anymore — it’s the type of content, the pace, the pressure to be cool, pretty, funny, perfect... all the time.
In my opinion — and I may be wrong — kids’ brains aren’t wired to deal with all that. Heck, most of us adults still struggle with social media anxiety. So imagine giving that chaos to a 9-year-old whose biggest worry should be which crayon to use.
I get it, though. We’re all trying to balance convenience and concern. You want your child to be tech-savvy, not left behind. You want them safe, reachable. But somewhere along the way, the phone stopped being a tool… and became a trap.
(Also, side note — have you seen the amount of ads on kids’ apps? It’s like candy-coated manipulation. They don’t even stand a chance.)
Maybe we need to slow down. Not every child needs a smartphone just because “everyone else has one.” Maybe what they really need is boredom. Dirt under their nails. Awkward silences. Real eye contact.
I don’t have all the answers, but I think this new research is pushing us to ask the right questions.
Like, are we giving our kids a gift… or handing them a burden they don’t understand yet?
What kind of childhood are we building, one scroll at a time?