Top Psychiatrist Urges Parents Not To Give Children Smartphones Until They Are At Least 11

Aug 09, 2018

The world of parenting has never been easy. We won’t pretend otherwise. However, modern parents have a new and increasingly difficult challenge when it comes to raising kids. These parents are taxed with helping their children navigate a new world where technology and communication are ever-present.

In years past, parents consumed themselves with worry over internet safety and their children using new technology in illicit ways. Now, even innocuous use of devices seems to be posing a problem.

Dr. Jon Goldin, the vice chairman of the Royal College of Psychologists, reminds parents that even what appears to be non-problematic use can lead to negative outcomes, such an increased risk of both depression and anxiety. This is why Dr. Goldin is imploring parents to refrain from handing over personal devices to children before they enter secondary school. Of course, Dr. Goldin acknowledges that schools themselves have become a part of the problem with the recent push of technology use in the classroom and the appearance that all the other students come equipped with their own devices.

He told the Daily Telegraph that “children often say to their parents, ‘All my friends are [getting devices] and you are not allowing me to do that.’” Dr. Goldin says that guidance from the government helps support parents in their decisions to postpone smartphone use amongst their children.

While not advocating for absolute regulation, Dr. Goldin explains that simple government guidance could help parents feel more grounded in their decision to not give-in-to their children’s desire to have their own smartphone.

Dr. Goldin, however, did not stop at just the use of a smartphone in government guidance. He additionally recommends that children be limited to no more than two hours of social media a day. With so many children already suffering from depression and anxiety, he wonders why so many would allow their children to engage in a medium that further exacerbates such negative feelings, all before the issue of cyberbullying even arises.

To further help with his recommendation of less social media, Dr. Goldin has reached out to Facebook and Twitter, begging them to make it more difficult for young children under age 13 to lie about their age to gain access. Certainly, this is an issue affecting almost everyone, with an estimated four out of 10 children between ages 8-11 owning their own smartphone.

Indeed, parents are noticing the effect it is having on children.

In a poll of 1,000 parents conducted by the Priory Group, 40% of parents do not think children under age 16 should be allowed to have their own phone. An even larger percentage of parents (67%) went as far to say they wished for the government to decide on when a child could own a smartphone.

What would make parents want to involve the government to such an extent? Perhaps it is because 92% of those parents polled believed the internet was having negative effects on their children, from causing sleep deprivation to low self-esteem. Of course, parents also see the effect such instant access is having on them. In fact, a report recently showed that, on average, adults look at their phones every 12 minutes, with 60% of adults claiming they couldn’t function without their smartphones. This constant contact with their phones has not boded well for adults either, with half from the report admitting their addiction to their smartphone has negatively impacted their relationships with those around them.

So, what are parents to do as they try to properly raise children in an age of advancing technology? One expert who banned his own 17-year-old son from having his phone at night recommends that parents simply do as he has done and pocket their child’s phone in the evening hours.

Professor Adam Joinson seconds this by advising parents buy their children an alarm clock so they are not dependent on their phones to wake them up. Dr. Joinson acknowledges that children will balk, but he reminds them that the storm will pass and that their children have every right to feel discomfort.

In other words, while it may not be a pleasant evening establishing boundaries with your children, your children will ultimately thank you for being brave enough to look out for their long-term well-being.

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