TECH BYTE: Is Your Child ‘Phone Ready?’
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — It’s not unusual anymore to see an elementary-age student with a cell phone.
But how do you know when they’re ready for one?
AT&T’s Laurie Starcher says parents need to factor in their child’s maturity level.
“It does seem that it’s getting younger and younger,” Starcher said. “And I think it’s really based off of, you know, what you as a parent feel is right for your kid.”
Starcher says everyone’s different.
That’s why AT&T came out with a questionnaire, to see if your child is ready for that smartphone or tablet.
“We have several ways that you can get help online. There’s a lot of different quizzes, and things that you can do to kind of help guide you to make that right decision,” Starcher said. “We do have a phone ready quiz. It’s a 10-question quiz. It’s very easy to go through online, and it really can help with understanding which type of device – whether it just be more of a basic phone, or if your child is ready to kind of step into that smartphone lifestyle. It definitely will change your lifestyle as they’re in a smartphone and kind of see the responsibilities if they’re ready to take on that next step.”
The questions were developed by pediatricians from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and AT&T.
They include “How often does your child follow rules about other media in the home such as limits on TV, tablets, or video games?”
And “How often do you trust your child’s judgment when they make decisions when you’re not there?”
“But as a child, if it’s your first smartphone, you really want to think about the type of responsibility, and the type of if we’re going to say, quote unquote, ‘freedom’ that it gives you. And that’s something that as parents, we need to make sure that we’re really conscious of.”
If you take the quiz, and based on your answers, your child falls in the ‘Ready Zone,’ AT&T recommends setting parental controls on their cell phone.
One option is the AT&T Secure Family app.
“It will allow you to track your child’s location in real time, which is wonderful, as well as block anything on the Internet that you may decide that that’s not going to be right for them,” Starcher said. “So we at AT&T have that available, but there’s lots of different ways to also help with kind of the guardrails for your children, Apple devices, Android devices, each of them do have a way that you can select privacy settings and location settings as well.”
The tech company also recommends setting expectations about the tech your child uses, and talking to them often about what they see and experience online.
To take the quiz, and check out other resources for parents, go here.
