The minimum age to have a mobile phone, should it exist?
One of the questions that most parents repeat when they have the opportunity to chat with an expert about the use of new technologies is at what age is it convenient or advisable for my child to have his or her first mobile phone?
It is true that in many Spanish homes, taking this decision has not a few headaches. The pressure exerted by adolescents on their parents for the purchase of the first mobile phone is very high and in some cases does not make the decision with sufficient criteria.
Experts also say that just as parents recognize with more or less clarity the convenience of regulating the hours that digital natives spend in front of the television or the console, in the case of the mobile phone, it is us for the sake of false security those who have introduced the device into their lives with a certain relaxation.
67% of children have a smartphone
There are no magic recipes or an ideal age to have a mobile phone. As everything in education you have its pros and cons and will depend above all on the degree of maturity of that child and the accompaniment that as parents we will make of the use of the device by the kid.
According to data of the last survey of the National Institute of Statistics, 67% of the minors between 10 and 15 years had at the end of 2015 a mobile phone in property.
Also, if we take into account that 79 percent of the population only dispenses with the phone two hours a day (not counting hours of sleep) we can get an idea of the level of implantation that has a device by which many adults are able to return home if we have forgotten.
Open debate in the United Kingdom
It is in the United Kingdom where a survey has opened the debate on whether or not there should be a minimum age to have a mobile phone.
The survey developed by Internet Matters reveals that 84.6 percent of the respondents believe that there is a minimum age. The remaining 15% however, thinks it is not necessary.
And what age is considered suitable? Just over 25 percent of respondents think that the minimum age should be 10 years, which in Spain is equivalent to children who attend the 4th year of Primary Education. Although the 9 and 11 years also get a high percentage of acceptance (14% and 16% respectively).
Another of the data revealed by this survey - carried out on a sample of 1,000 parents of children between the ages of 8 and 11 - is that82% of them think that cell phones should be prohibited at school breaks. As an additional fact, 65% of kids between 8 and 11 years of the United Kingdom have their own smartphone, and it is 23% of parents who allow them to take it to school.
And in Spain? What do the experts think?
Experts put the most appropriate age for the acquisition of their first mobile in the 14 years and emphasize the importance of being taught to manage the time of use of it.
That a child has a mobile phone - for the peace of mind of parents and mothers - is not good or bad in itself. However, recalls psychologist Silvia Álava, "as parents we have to be aware that a telephone is not only a device to receive calls but it is a device that allows a child to connect to the internet. a small one in the street because of the dangers that it entails, why are we going to abandon him to his fate in social networks, where there are good things but also bad people? "
The technology is advisable to enter our homes after a previous reflection by adults, the decision to buy a first mobile phone to our child requires our attention.
More than limiting or blocking young people's access to mobile phones at a certain age is more about being able to accompany them, explaining how to use them, in what situations, when they should save it and disconnecting or with whom they should share their data or not. .
The good use that we make of the screens will depend to a great extent on their interaction with them.
María Zalbidea González. Blog author Sewing the digital divide
