TAMPA, Fla. — Technology is available at the touch of your fingertips, and children these days are growing up around it.
“I know I certainly get glued to my smartphone, and I don’t want to see the same for my children,” said Leah Del Percio. “I don’t want them to miss out on a beautiful, sunny day because they’re busy looking at a screen.”
It’s a debate among some parents: when should children have a smartphone? ABC Action News wanted to know what Tampa Bay area parents think when it comes to their kids and this technology.
Del Percio is a mom of two young kids. “Probably I would say minimum earliest age 14,” she said.
A pledge called Wait Until 8th is encouraging parents to come together to delay giving kids a smartphone until at least the end of 8th grade. The group listed Lakewood Ranch Prep and Shorecrest Prep as where some parents are delaying smartphones.
Wait Until 8th said even a basic phone avoids many of the distractions of a smartphone.
"We have two nieces that are older, and they both have cellphones, and it’s become a debate in our house,” said Brittany Kettelhut, who has two kids of her own.
“They’re surrounded by technology, they see friends with technology, and we want to be able to balance that where they’re not missing out on something, but they’re not also exposed to it too early,” said Kettelhut.
Pediatricians at the Cleveland Clinic said your child’s maturity is what matters.
They shared tips for parents who want to let their kids have their own phone, like limiting your child’s access and creating phone-free zones.
"Our thinking was when it’s actually necessary,” said Kettelhut. “If they’re playing a sport or they’re in a camp and they need to be able to reach us, them having that way to do that, but I would rather wait until at least late middle school to do that.”
