Have you ever walked around and seen a child under the age of 13 with a phone? When I see this, I wonder why that child needs a phone. What is the point of having a phone?

I asked my parents this question when they told me that my 7-year-old sister was going to have a phone. They said it would be a good way for her to keep in touch with them and with me. I don’t think that it is a good idea for her to have a phone because it may distract her from school and studies.

Phones can make it harder for kids to learn as they grow older. It closes the child off from face-to-face interaction with friends and family. I know from my own experience with a  phone that kids will become easily distracted while doing homework. When you see these younger kids on their phones and social networking websites, you start to wonder how this generation will turn out after having so many electronic distractions at such a young age.

Parents, know what your child is doing on his or her social networking accounts and who they are engaging with. Younger kids don’t have the mental capacity to understand the purpose of a phone. Children, and even teens, don’t always use their phones and social networks wisely. Using sites such as Facebook could be used for talking to dangerous people they don’t know, sometimes by accident. There is a danger of giving out their phone numbers to strangers, talking to them, and possibly meeting up with them.

A good age for a child to have a cell phone is really based on the maturity and responsibility of the child. Some children are more responsible and mature than others at much younger ages. A few parents have good reasons for providing their child with a phone such as keeping in touch with a parent after a divorce or just keeping in touch with family as needed. The real question that parents need to ask themselves when considering giving their child a phone is how responsible and mature their child is and why they would need it.