Good evening everyone. This time the topic of the contest is what age kids should have access to smartphones and I believe that is a very important question that we need to very carefully answer in this day and age. Most of us are kids anymore and in our childhood. We never had a smartphone. Smartphone's only about 10 to 15 years old. Back then they were dumb phones and obviously they were very expensive because the whole phone thing was very new back in that time. So not everybody had access to it. So forget the fact of us actually having phones of our own. But as they got cheaper some of us did get it. But all those phones could do was call and text. There weren't many other features to talk about.
Due to that please and back then the regulation of kids' use of mobile phones wasn't a big issue. But now phones can do all sorts of things. Especially in the age of the Internet. Social media is a talk of the Town. So I believe in today's world it is more important than ever for children to understand what kind of harm smartphones can do to them. And it is also important to understand as parents. In my country I would like to address two different situations. One is where the father and the mother both are working a job. In that case, there is simply nobody close to the child who will look after them. Yes, sometimes there are grandparents or if it's a joint family, there are other relatives and nobody can actually fill your own mother and father's shoes. In such scenarios the child gets a mobile phone to keep himself occupied. Because obviously he has nothing to do in his free time and his parents aren't there to spend time with him. And there was another case where maybe one of the parents is available to spend time with the child but in my country the population is very dense. There is not enough space around the house where a child can spend his free time. I'm talking about playing fields, Parks or open spaces where he can spend his time. I myself faced this issue and my little brother is also facing this issue more severely. He is growing up but he can't go out to play because there is simply no playing area around our home. So obviously he gets a phone or any electronic device to spend his time.
So there are many reasons why one may feel compelled to provide their children with a smartphone. And that is fine. Everyone has their reasons. But at the same time they should also educate their children about the harm that these phones can cause. Continuous phone usage will hamper their mental growth and their ability to interact with people in the real world. Also, if he somehow gets hold of social media and it is a bit over the top for his understanding then he can harm himself without even knowing. So it's really not about what age a child should get a phone but it's about