Advantages And Disadvantages Of Buying A Mobile Phone For Your Child
In this age of technology, children are not exempt from succumbing to the magic of electronic devices. Today we will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of buying a mobile phone for your child. Something that surely has already been a topic of debate at home and of consultation with some friends.
Consider what it takes to give your child a mobile phone
There are several considerations that you should make before giving your child a mobile phone. Next we are going to analyze them so that you can have a better decision about it … Some are advantages, and others, disadvantages.
Can you take care of your mobile phone?
If you give your child a mobile phone, will he be able to take care of it? That is, to always have it in a safe place, remember where you put it, avoid getting it wet, stepping on it or losing it. If he has not shown the same responsibility with his toys … you will already have the answer about at what age you can buy a mobile for your child.
Maybe you could start there first, wait for his maturity and organization to allow him to be responsible for his belongings. When he is able to show you his responsibility, you can start to assess whether to buy him a mobile or not.
Do you have criteria to use a mobile phone?
Ask yourself if your child has the criteria for proper use of a mobile phone. That is, when you can use it and when you can’t, or know how to manage your phone expenses. But, this will be something that he must demonstrate to you and that goes within a responsible behavior.
Can you discern who you can give your number to and who you can’t?
If you consider that your child still does not have the ability to distinguish who can give his phone number and who can not, do not buy it. Doing so will put it at risk of falling into the hands of people with bad intentions. Children tend to be poor at knowing who to trust and who not, or to get out of an awkward situation when someone asks for their phone number.
Is your child capable of handling the information that he will find on social networks and the Internet?
You should know that with a mobile phone that has data to browse the Internet, your child will have access to the whole world. This is information appropriate to your age and information that you are not trained to process.
So if you’re going to give him a phone, at least make sure he doesn’t have a mobile data plan. Similarly, you should consider that each photo, each comment that your child uploads to social networks or the web in general makes him a possible target of digital crimes.
When the mobile phone is a social competition
Many times our children, and we too, allow ourselves to be enveloped by social competition. This leads them to think “if my friends take a cell phone to school, I want one too” or “Mom, I’m the only one of my friends who doesn’t have a cell phone”. Sometimes parents fall into the game of wanting to show how advanced we are or our financial strength by giving them an expensive next-generation mobile.
Here the question is even more complex, if your child is not yet a teenager (he is under 12 years old) ask yourself how is his self-esteem and why does he need to have what others have and not the things he wants. The criteria for wanting a mobile phone should be “because I like it”, “because it’s fun” and not “because everyone has it”. Pay close attention to this. Your criteria for buying it should be “what does he learn from him?”
If your son is already a teenager, his valid reasons begin to be the comparison with his group of friends, this is how adolescence works. Your job as a mother is to keep him grounded, to help him develop a strong personality. Teens need a lot from this message: you are worth who you are and not what you have.
When the mobile phone is a necessity
We live in a time when family and social dynamics have changed considerably, sometimes for the better and sometimes not so much. Remember that you grew up without needing a mobile, maybe the need you see now is not such. Ask yourself how your parents would have faced the need for which you now believe urgently a mobile for your children.
If your children are young, surely you have taken care that they are in places under the supervision of responsible adults at all times, so you can channel communication through them. They don’t need a mobile to keep in touch, they really don’t need one.
If they are already starting to go out alone or stay alone at home, it may be time to provide one, because then take into account the browsing restrictions, access to Internet content and make sure that the mobile will not put them at risk when putting them in contact with people you don’t know. Don’t entrust your child’s safety to a device that makes them more vulnerable.
