These days, children are spending more and more time on their smartphones. The following essay will describe why I think this is happening and whether or not I think it’s a good idea.

Looking initially at the Why, I think it can be answered from two perspectives, the first being time. In modern times, when both parents need to work and grandma is too tired to run after the three-year-old, the smartphone acts as another parent, or at least someone to play with. Previous generations used to plant their children in front of the TV. Nowadays, they get given a smartphone, which brings me on to the second perspective, namely technology. People need to move with the times, and that includes children. 100 years ago, kids used to go out and play with a stick and a hoop, or maybe a football. 50 years ago, it was the colour TV, and now, we have progressed to the very small computer, which is after all, the basic nature of a smartphone. It’s all because they weren’t around previously.

Moving onto the merits, or lack thereof, to this development, I firmly believe that the word “moderation” is important here, together with “balance”. There are many good things about allowing children access to smartphones including things like hand-eye coordination, colour recognition, learning new technology and potentially Internet learning apps. However, I do also consider that children need to spend time outside in the fresh air playing with their friends. This gives them the opportunity to learn a completely different set of skills including a different form of hand-eye coordination, socializing skills and the like. Not to mention just simply getting some exercise.

To summarize, I believe that, yes, children should be allowed, and even encouraged, to interact with their smartphones as long as there is the balance of outside activity and exercise too.

(310 words)