[user104658]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Under 10s shouldn't be having smart phones

Unfortunately I would adjust this down to under-8's these days, I understand in principle why not but the social impact in 2024 of being the last to have one is unfortunately too far in the other direction (likely to lead to social isolation). My overall thought is that "having a smartphone" is never the issue, unrestricted and unsupervised use of said smartphone is. Technology and interconnectedness is unfortunately just a reality of the world now and the best option IMO is to teach responsible use and healthy skepticism early. Now that my daughter's in her mid teens, it's become extremely clear that the kids who had "delayed access" are FAR more likely to be "phone obsessed" when they finally get one (delayed gratification I guess?) and also more naive to the risks of being online. A bad combination.

To add to that I wouldn't have thought the same 10 or even 5 years ago, there has been a dramatic shift in how kids engage socially over the last few years -- specifically since COVID lockdowns, I suspect.