What age is it appropriate for kids to have a phone?

On an average a child first a cellphone at 10 years of age. Is that a good age for a phone with all the negativity on social media today? Then what would a decent age be?

“I was ten when I got my first phone, which was a motorola flip phone but now I have a Samsung Galaxy 6s,” said sophomore Brandon Stroyier.

Freshman, Serenity Vasquez got her first phone, either an Iphone 5 or 6, in 8th grade and she still has the same one.

According to CNN.com, “teens spend at least 9 hours just using social media a day while tweens spend 6 hours a day.” Brandon claims to spend 17 hours a day on his phone.

“Better question. When am I not? Which is when I’m sleeping, doing chores, and homework. I’m usually reading when I’m on my phone though,” Serenity said.

“Parental controls are a special browser or filtering program designed to reject websites not suited for children. Such programs may screen pages by word content, site rating or by URL, using an updated database of objectionable sites, or any combination of these techniques,” as stated by yourdictionary.com. Brandon thinks phones should have a completely custom parental locks designed so only parents can control and unlock it.

Serenity said, “well to be honest, I am old enough to know some apps should just be avoided, but for younger audience, I do believe it would be better for them to have better systems.”

When it comes to a definitive age for a child having a phone, every parent is different, and especially with today’s generation kids who don’t have a phone are considered missing out or having “stupid” parents. Brandon believe 12 years of age is good.

Serenity shared her opinion by stating, “I believed a child should get a phone at the age of 13. Anything under I don’t understand, sure it’s good for an individual to keep in contact with their parent. But with the other things that occur when you have a phone, social media, drama, you should give it some time before giving it to the kid.”

When it comes to how much time a kid should be on their phone is truly up to them, but also the parents. Some parents don’t let kids have their phone at school, or even at night, but some parents let their kids have it with them all the time. So when a kid does have it with them, it is officially the child’s choice on how much time they spend on it. Brandon says about 5 hours a day would be a great amount of time.

“Depends on the kid but maybe 7 hours,” Serenity said.

No matter what age a kid is given their first phone, they will always think they're using it responsibly and most of the time they are.