Close
We can struggle with knowing the right age to give a child a first phone. The conversations around first phones have shifted. Age has been replaced by readiness for a phone, and a smartphone is not necessarily a first phone now.
How do you know if your child is ready for a phone?
Appropriate phone ownership does not necessarily depend on a child’s age but on a child’s readiness and family circumstances. Recent studies show children who receive phones based on readiness rather than age show better long-term digital habits. These include managing the constant distraction of phones and good judgement around the content they regularly browse and engage with. You can look at a child’s child’s readiness for a phone in several ways:
– how responsible are they with the technology they already use?
– do they follow family guidelines around screen time?
– how willing are they to discuss their online experiences with you?
– Do they come to you if there is a problem or something they don’t understand?
– do they have a basic understanding of digital privacy and security?
– what’s their decision-making like offline?
– What are they like with family, friends and other responsibilities?
Non-phone options
If you decide yes, your child is ready, they don’t necessarily have to go straight to a smartphone with all the bells, whistles and apps.
For basic safety requirements, such as travel to school, a smartwatch or basic phone can allow your child to receive and make calls and texts, but without accessing the internet.
If you want to prioritise social connection (so a child isn’t left out with friends), you could might start with a shared family tablet featuring supervised messaging apps. This allows children to maintain friendships within set boundaries.
As children demonstrate growing independence and digital maturity, they can progress to restricted smartphones with parental controls, gradually earning more privileges through demonstrated responsibility.
Or your child could have a smartphone with regular “check ins”. Here parents and the child discuss and review common challenges such as managing notifications, apps the child is permitted to use and where the phone can be used.
