As she’s grown older, she’s asking for her own phone more and more (Picture: Getty Images)
My daughter Jenny was eight when she first asked me for a phone.
I was a bit taken aback, but – thinking about it – I realised it probably seemed to her like everyone else had one.
At least half her class already owned a mobile, as did her parents, her older cousins, and even her grandads.
But two years on, and nearing the last term of year five at a small village school, she still doesn’t have a phone.
I don’t want her to until she’s at least 12 or 13 – for many reasons.
Jenny’s in a class of 20 and she’s one of two who don’t have their own phone. We’ve resisted getting her one, initially because we didn’t see the need.
When I got my first phone at 19, it was from the necessity of having a means of communication driving around country lanes as a new driver – in case anything happened.
Am I being old fashioned telling her there’s ‘no need’ for one, when she’s dropped off and collected from a school 200 metres from our house? She’s 10, what could she possibly need one for?
She’s 10, what could she possibly need one for? (Picture: Alice Johnson)
But as she’s grown older, she’s asking for her own phone more and more. Now, it’s almost a daily occurrence.
At first, the question was: ‘Can I get my own phone?’ Then it became: ‘Can I get my own phone, maybe I can use an old one of yours?’; followed by: ‘Everyone in my class has got one,’; becoming: ‘When I get my phone, can it be…’.
My husband and I have tentatively agreed that she can have a mobile when she goes to secondary school, with the idea that she might be getting there on a coach, rather than being dropped off.
But still, there’s no real need for her to have one, and if we do get her one, it’s unlikely to be a smartphone. I fear that she’d be sucked into it, fixated on gaming and the opinions of others.
As a younger child, being introduced to games and films on a household tablet aged five, we noticed Jenny’s behaviour and demeanour change.
She became increasingly obsessed with screen time, combative when we restricted time on it, and increasingly withdrawn.
Studies have discovered that access to social media from a young age can alter children’s brains (Picture: Alice Johnson)
I felt like I was losing the happy-go-lucky girl who would ask to go on bike rides every day. This was only compounded by the pandemic, too.
And with studies discovering that access to social media from a young age can alter children’s brains, and negatively impact their mental health, we decided to be more strict with screen time. It’s the reason why she and her younger sister Hazel, seven, don’t have their own devices.
While I know she thinks it’s …read more
Source:: Metro
