Smartphones and Kids

 Hello! Today I will be talking about something kind of heavy but important. I know that social media and technology can be a great thing most of the time. So many people have benefited from social media by gaining new jobs and being able to share their passions and dreams. Technology has offered so many ways to be engaged, keep up with family and friends, it has even allowed us to be safe and healthy. However, I worry about the number of people who overuse their smartphones. Specifically, kids. The Guardian posted a recent article mentioning a study that showed most children own a smartphone by the age of 7. That was shocking to hear. With that being said, having access to a smartphone also means having access to the internet. Having access to the internet at such a young age may potentially be harmful to children. There are all sorts of regulations to make social media accounts but most of the time children can bypass them by making a fake age. Having social media applications have been shown to cause problems with your mental health. It makes me worried for children who have access to social media. I also think an important issue is cyberbullying. Many children are bullied every day and unfortunately, the bullying doesn't stop at school. 

I also think that parents play a key role. It is their responsibility to keep track of their children's phone usage and what they are doing online. However, I see so many little kids on popular apps like TikTok where there are videos that may potentially be inappropriate at their age. Yet, there are still comments from children. I think that this is an important topic to discuss because I think that children may be logging onto the internet too early and it could potentially be harmful to them. I would really like to hear everyone else's opinion on this subject and what the solutions could be!