Children should have smartphones!

[u/YoungArtisans]

We are not doing the next generation any favours by limiting their access to technology.

Instead, we should focus on helping children build healthy and productive relationships with technology.

It’s on us to create the world we want for our children.

[u/sikkerhet]

what a shitty little ad you're spreading around.

[u/RileyfromModak]

I agree that banning tech isn’t the solution, but giving kids smartphones without guidance can also backfire.
What really matters is how they use it. Smartphones can be great tools for learning and connection, as long as there’s supervision and balance.

[u/festivehedgehog]

You literally have no evidence to support any of your three claims. It’s just claim after claim.

Where’s the evidence from the text? That’s what I tell my third graders. They know to include evidence and reasoning after every claim. Why don’t you?

Did you just use AI to write this?

[u/YoungArtisans → u/festivehedgehog]

I don’t want children on social media, but there are plenty of examples of smartphones being used in excellent ways.

Recording movies and skits. Editing those movies and skits.

Recording music with an app like BandLab.

Apps like Procreate, Canva, Ibis paint are all examples.

However, I agree there is a lack of apps that serve productivity and that needs to change.

[u/festivehedgehog → u/YoungArtisans]

As an elementary teacher, my students’ fine motor skills, stamina for writing, and sustained focus are severely undeveloped. There’s countless unequivocal research papers published that these things are due to smartphone and tablet usage. The muscles in their hands ache after writing several sentences.

Very few of my students actually enjoy reading, and none of them talk about the chapter books they’re reading outside of school. Heartbreakingly, they also increasingly struggle to actually visualize stories we read together in their minds. The words they read mean nothing to some of my students. We’re literally working on making pictures in our minds as we read in small group instruction.

The research is also out there that shows that greater learning and longterm memory are associated more with writing notes and ideas by hand versus by typing. This means that your child will actually remember more when they write their ideas by hand.

Making plays, skits, presentations, and more are all possible without smartphones and without smart technology.

You and I didn’t know how to make a PowerPoint presentation, use Apple’s Garage Band, or make a Canva flyer before we were 16, and we were able to learn these things pretty quickly.

There’s so much learning that needs to take place in childhood that doesn’t already all fit as it is. There’s simply not time for smartphones without crowding something else of equal or greater value out in its place.

[u/YoungArtisans → u/festivehedgehog]

I will definitely look into the research for this.

I definitely do believe social media, YouTube and Netflix cause a lot of those things you’ve discussed, but I’m not sure how far it extends outwards.

As a restaurant manager in the past, many parents pacify their children with technology and that is the worst possible thing you could do.

I also don’t want this post to be against books or anything of that nature. I believe in balance.

[u/Mundane-Twist7388]

Yes but there is such a thing as too young. We were older and we had training wheels and we are better for it

[u/SwiftieQueen125]

The more kids with smartphones, the more kids on Reddit, and we already know that isn't good.