Age requirement necessary
Today smartphones are really helping people of all ages to learn more. It is like a mini computer. Children are welcome to use this device, but there should be an age requirement. If small children start using these devices, they devote more time to play and go through different apps, which will affect their studies. There should be a minimum age for using smartphones.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India
Keep track of them
School children should not be given access to the internet via smartphones. If they do have this access, every parent should learn a technique to get into their children’s mobiles to keep track of their activities.
From Ms Meghna Pednekar
Dubai
Need to know technology
There are pros and cons of any new technology. Here, the pros outweigh the cons. Nevertheless, the future depends on how well these young minds get acquainted with technology and having accessibility to smartphones is an added advantage if used in an apt way.
Parents should educate their children and put restrictions on usage. If that happens then everything will be fine.
From Mr Abijith Manayil
UAE
Swallowed by social media
I gave a smartphone to my daughters aged 11 and nine years old, and I regret it! As they were swallowed by social media, they stopped studying seriously. Don’t make this mistake if you haven’t already.
From Ms Ottavia Pozzati
Milan, Italy
Helps us grow today
The internet and smartphones are made for good things and rather teach us how not to be vulnerable. We must use the internet and smartphones, not misuse them. See the example of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and many other renowned names - they have become powerful because of the internet.
From Mr Madhav Sharma
Kathmandu, Nepal
An educational crutch
Technology is a wonderful and powerful tool. It has many advantages but, on the other hand, there can be a downside if people become too dependent on it. Social life and communication can suffer just as behaviour issues can increase when the devices are taken from the child for whatever reason by the adult. As a teacher, I limit my students, especially those at an early age. Just the other day I noted that several grade six students had no idea how to work a mathematical problem out by themselves. They hid the device under the table and worked the answer from there. I was at the back of the room observing the students. Later I informed their teacher of this, as it is now a common activity by some who seemingly cannot think for themselves. It’s very sad!
From Ms Maxene Dodds
UAE
Stuck behind a screen
I survived my childhood without a smartphone! Life is too interesting to be stuck on a screen at such a young age, trust me. There’s no need to rush because when you become an adult you will spend all day in front of a screen.
From Ms Julie Ramos
UAE
Peaking interests
In my point of view, they should use smartphones. It will increase their interest towards technologies.
But, they should need to attend some classes about how to use the internet for the purpose of study.
Maybe it will be helpful for some of them. I must admit though that smartphone technology has its demerits, too!
From Mr Shihin Shah Afridi
UAE
Change isn’t that easy
How could we predict that children’s social values, ideas and ethics will change because of a smartphone? It will never get them down if we give them right knowledge of how to use it properly.
From Mr Abdullah Aftab
UAE
Always a challenge
I agree with Mr Abdullah Aftab. Children are challenging to raise and there will always be a way for them to be difficult to handle. If it’s not smartphones, it’s something else. You just need to teach them.
From Ms Kelly Jones
UAE
Need to be controlled
Smartphones should be controlled so that children can’t just use them!
From Mr Jackson Edison
Dubai
Don’t give access
No child should ever have access to a smartphone.
From Mr Shafeeq Rasheed
UAE
Create a lifestyle
Children can have gadgets as incentives for good grades, but on one condition, they can use it only on weekends after doing their homework and until noon of the second day. They should be disciplined and controlled. In setting these rules, parents should set examples also. No mobiles at home. Learn how to spend quality time with your family. Don’t allow technology to distance yourself from the one next to you. Be closer to them because your family loves you even without a click. Emotions are far better than emojis. It’s real. Love your family without passwords.
From Ms A. Jameel
UAE
Parents need to change
For everyone, there is a time for using mobiles. How it effects children or adults is based on how they use it. It has advantages and disadvantages. If it was in the olden days, children would be busy with other things. Children grow by seeing their fathers, mothers and siblings. If families find time to spend with everyone altogether and reduce the usage of technology, children will also grow up the same.
Unfortunately, we see people who don’t have time, so children are finding more time on smartphones as they have nobody to share their feelings and emotions.
I strongly suggest that parents reduce the use of smartphones so children grow up without that.
From Mr Mohammad Aqib
UAE
Give your children trust
In today’s world, where everyone’s life is governed by technology, keeping children away from mobile phones is definitely not a good idea. This is because from a wider prospect, keeping your child away from smartphones doesn’t keep away the smartphones of other children of the same age. This situation can become emotionally stressful when other children talk about their gadgets in a regular school conversation and your child has absolutely no say in the conversation. This will give rise to inferiority complexes and children often do not realise why their parents have put a bar on phones.
The same effect will prevail if the parents put a restriction on their smartphone usage. If you regularly monitor their usage, the effect will be even worse. Especially teenagers, who will try to use their phones in a secretive way by going incognito, which is not a good sign.
Instead, parents have to provide their children with smartphones and make them understand the dangers that prevail in the internet world. Children must also be aware of the addictive nature of such devices and the ill effects of addiction prior to their usage. In this way, a sense of responsibility and trust is rendered upon children and they themselves will limit their usage. They will strive to live in the real world if reprimanded in the right way. Being an adolescent, I believe, this is the most efficient way to manage children and smartphones in the 21st century.
From Ms Parvathi Sreeraj
Dubai
Smartphone slaves
Children should not be allowed access at all to smartphones because it causes moral, physical and psychological drawbacks. They become smartphone slaves.
From Ms Sophy Aqeel
UAE
Parents making problems
Strictly ban electronic gadgets. To some extent, parents are more responsible. I had one friend who said that her child felt bad, and I asked why. She went on to tell me how her boy’s cousin has an iPhone at six years old. He plays on it all the time and makes her son feel inferior because he doesn’t have one. We are creating such feelings among children! We should teach some values to stay strong and be intelligent.
From Mr Pary Jot Bansal
Dubai
Technology creating issues
I totally agree. Children are developing more and more behavioural problems as a result of technological consumption. They are listening to music with vulgar, obscene lyrics and watching movies with all sorts of violence as well as spending hours in front of the screens playing games or watching television. This causes problems with their attention spans, behaviour, sleeping patterns, mental development, and physical development and exposes them to things they really shouldn’t be exposed to at such young ages.
From Ms Afrah Mohammad
UAE
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