PRO (Siddharth Gopujkar):
We are living in a world dominated by electronics. The day is not far away when they will take over and we will be living the story of “The Matrix”, but until then, we might as well let our kids embrace what we have developed! A lot of the older generation are of the opinion that kids should not be given cell phones at the tender age of ten, but they fail to look at the positive role cell phones can play in their lives. Connectivity and safety are the primary advantages. Kids are involved in multiple activities and it is always a benefit to be able to contact your offspring to know their status and be able to locate them. In case of an emergency like a storm or a fire, it is assuring to know where your child is. Smartphones, which are what everyone uses today, also facilitate easier learning for kids. Need a dictionary or thesaurus? Just use your cell phone! Need to know more about evolution? Ditto! ow that we are in an age of digital learning, having a tool like a smartphone can only serve as an advantage. There is always the downside that kids get involved in social media and games on cell phones. Games aren’t a child’s worst enemies. They made a child think and help in the development of the creative portion of the brain. Parents often encourage kids to take up brain indulging activities like playing chess or solving crosswords. Games serve a similar purpose, the only disadvantage being prolonged exposure to a screen.
As for the social media part, I agree that going overboard with that aspect isn’t a very positive thing. Not that social media is a bad thing, but young minds can get easily lost in it (even I do, but no one really questions me) for hours at end with the result being zero productivity. parents need to keep a watch on that. All in all, I am of the opinion that kids can only benefit from getting a cell phone at a young age and parents should do so with the right supervision.
CON (Joy Pandya):
Before putting forth my point, let me throw some light on the available studies and data. Ms. Weinberger, the writer of the book “The Boogeyman Exists: And He’s in Your Child’s Back Pocket” said that out of more than 50,000 children she studied, on an average sexting starts from fifth grade, pornography consumption starts from grade eight and a kid becomes addicted to it even before the teenage! The study conducted by Common Sense Media in 2013 denotes that in 2011, 52 percent of the children under age eight had access to mobile phones, which increased to 75 percent in 2013. The same study showcased that 50 percent% children admitted that they are addicted to cellphones. 66 percent of the parents think that their child is using the cellphone too much and 52 percent of the children accepted that thing! Well, these things can be eliminated by the right supervision, as my fellow writer said, but is it really practical to keep an eye on your children all the time until they become mature, responsible, and also understands the unpleasant side of the technology? I agree with the argument that cellphone brings all the information on your finger-tips, but at which cost?
The ill-effects of technology can definitely be alleviated by proper awareness. But to become aware, one should have a well-established thought process and maturity, and that is really difficult to find in a ten-year-old child! I agree that the mobile games might help the children in developing the creative portion of the brain, so as other traditional games! Rather than spending time starring on the screen and becoming isolated from the community around us, why shouldn’t we direct our children towards social gathering and playground games? At a young age, an excessive amount of screen usage may lead to eye problems in the long run. Cell phones will help us connecting with the latest updates and information from all around the world, but at the age of ten, when the child is still in their learning phase, at the age when they are not able to understand the logic behind more than half of the things happening around them, at the age when they are learning how to mingle with people, develop team spirit and live in society; new music album releases in the other corner of the world can wait!
In the end, there is no magic age at which we can provide the technology to our child. It all depends on the children’s maturity level, which is different for every child. But, legal drinking age and legal voting age shows us that there is some way of deciding the maturity level in terms of age and even if it is extremely difficult to determine the number, we should think about that. Afterall it is all in favor of our next generation!
