Technology plays a great role in our lives and with new trends and techniques coming up every now and then, the demand for various gadgets are also considerably increasing among kids. Using mobile phones is quite common among kids, but the question comes, whether you should purchase a cell phone for your child or not? Are there any risks? Buying a phone is a simple task, but it is important to think twice before purchasing as it can either be a risky proposition or a great idea. As a parent, you are the best person to understand your child so it is only after measuring all the factors that you can decide whether to give your child a cell phone or not?
Here in this blog, we will discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing a mobile device for your kid.
Some advantages of giving a cell phone to your child:
Easy communication: With mobile phones used by the majority of people, it is easy to remain connected with family, friends and colleagues. With GPS services easily available with phones, it is easy to locate the user whether he or she is inside a closed building or even outside town. Giving a mobile phone to your child will help you to keep a tab on him and remain in touch whenever he is away from home.
Useful for emergency situations: We all know that a mobile is of great help during emergency situations. Your child can easily get in touch with you if there is any problem when he or she is away from home. They can take help from useful departments according to their needs and can handle emergency situations easily.
Good device to improve knowledge: Earlier, our parents and grandparents gathered knowledge from books, teachers and parents. But today things have changed and kids can use the internet to gather some extra knowledge. They don’t even have to go to the library searching for the specific book. They can simply search the net and get great explanations about the topic without wasting much time.
Remain updated about latest news: Earlier it was only aged people who followed the news, but today things have changed and every school student should remain updated about the happenings around the world. Mobile phone and internet are great contributors. Students can easily search news and other related stuff to know about the latest events happening around the world.
Entertainment value: Mobile phones are also a great means of entertainment. Kids of all ages love to listen to music, chat with friends and play games. If this is allowed in limited amounts, then a phone can be a great means for relieving stress.
Some disadvantages of giving a mobile phone to your kid:
Hinder social interaction: It is true that mobile phones have great usage benefits, but it cannot be denied that kids remain glued to their device and neglect real interactions with people or friends around them over the things that they love to do on phones. It is because of this that little kids are less capable of socializing normally and are also not comfortable talking to others in public.
Privacy and security breaches: Children often are unable to decide what is right and what is wrong. They may at times share important data with others on phone and this is extremely unsafe. Your contacts, financial information, networking accounts may be easily hacked if mobile phones are not used carefully. Kids should avoid posting any important data on social media.
Getting stressed and tired: Most kids love to play games on their mobile phones and they forget about the time. By doing so, they waste valuable time and even disturb their sleeping schedules. Chatting with friends or playing games too much often makes them get tired and lack concentration.
Constant interruption: Cell phones are devices where you continuously receive calls, messages, chat and etc. This continuous interruption often makes it difficult for kids to concentrate on any work that they do. Since they are always over phone checking emails or chat messages, it reduces their concentration levels.
Hidden dangers: Easy access to the internet gives your child a huge opportunity to access sites that they are not supposed to view. He or she may start to communicate with strangers and may become more prone to cyber bullying and malicious gossips.
The final verdict:
To conclude, we can say that there is no problem in giving a cell phone to your kid if you are able to take certain precautions. Kids should be allowed to use mobile when they are away from home for communication. In case if they don’t spend much time outside home, then there is no use of purchasing a phone. If you can control any mishandling or misuse of the phone by your kids, then mobile phones can be of great help to them.
