I don't have kids, but I do want kids some day, and I think about this kind of thing a lot.
I didn't have a phone of any kind until I was 18, and I didn't have a smartphone until I was 23. I had restricted internet access up until I was 16.
Personally, I want to wait as long as possible before giving my kids smart devices. I see little kids with smart phones and it just rubs me the wrong way. But I'm totally willing to admit I might be in the one in the wrong here, and maybe I'm being too cautious. I don't know. The internet is a very different place than when I was a kid.
I didn't use the internet until I was about 25 or so and took to it like a duck to water. Stayed "surfing" late at work and realized how addictive it was quickly as well.
When people say things like "kids need it so they don't get left behind," I laugh inside. It's not hard to learn how to use the internet these days, in fact toddlers are being pacified on tablets at this very moment. The idea that you need ten years to learn it is silly. Sure, have kids take an online safety class, since they apparently cancelled drivers Ed.
I'm glad I got to face it when already mature, not sorry.
I didn't have a phone of any kind until I was 18, and I didn't have a smartphone until I was 23. I had restricted internet access up until I was 16.
Personally, I want to wait as long as possible before giving my kids smart devices. I see little kids with smart phones and it just rubs me the wrong way. But I'm totally willing to admit I might be in the one in the wrong here, and maybe I'm being too cautious. I don't know. The internet is a very different place than when I was a kid.