As the years pass, the age that kids receive a phone seems to be lower than it used to be. In fact, twice as many children have phones now than in 2004, according to WebMD. Some parents may have more of a legitimate reason to give their kids a phone than others, which is understandable. There are many benefits to your kid having a phone, but then there is the opposite reason. However there is an appropriate age at which a child should get a phone.

31 percent of kids aged from 8-10 years old own a cell phone, 69 percent of kids aged 11-14 have cell phone and 85 percent of teens aged 15-19 have cell phones according to the survey on WebDM. Parents may give their kids a phone at a young age because they may want to know where their kid is at all times and knowing that they have direct contact with them makes them a little less stressed about their kid.

Maybe it is not always a phone, but an iPad, tablet or an iPod. Regardless of what the device may be, it may cause your kid to tend to stay up longer at night waiting for a text or Snapchat. Social media is another huge cause of the use of phones all the time because once you get a phone usually you get addicted to Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter or your favorite game. ‘Just five more minutes’ is hard to keep track of when you get hooked to your phone and can lose a lot of sleep because of that.

Kids should stay kids, without a device, as long as they can because once they get one they age and lose that kid feeling. As the age kids get a phones keeps getting lower, playing outside and other little kid activities are becoming less popular due to being beat out by electronic devices.

If I were a parent and my kid was asking for a phone at a young age of around nine or 10, I would not consider giving it to them because they most likely have not matured or aren’t responsible enough yet. If I were to give my kid a phone at that young of an age, I would probably set boundaries and limits for them and the phone. Overall, there isn’t a huge need for a phone at that age but maybe a want. There are some great reasons for a child to have a phone, however most of the time when a child wants a phone it is because their friend has one.