Childs cell phone

What's the best cell phone for kids?

Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Understanding addiction to technology. A poll conducted for Common Sense Media , a nonprofit focused on helping children, parents, teachers and policymakers negotiate media and technology, explores families and technology addiction.

18 Best Cell Phones for Kids

A poll conducted for Common Sense Media, a nonprofit focused on helping children, parents, teachers and policymakers negotiate media and technology, explores families and technology addiction. About six years ago, when Sophia was just a toddler, Zaske and her husband moved the family from Oregon to Berlin. By the time Sophia was in third grade in Berlin, almost no one in her class owned a cell phone, let alone a smartphone, Zaske said, and Sophia hardly noticed.

But when Zaske and her family moved to California's San Francisco Bay Area, Sophia entered fourth grade and became the only student in her class without a smartphone, Zaske said, and the girl noticed. You didn't need it before; why do you need it now? As in most developed countries, Zaske said, many German children had access to smartphones or computers in their homes, but owning their own mobile device was not as common as it appears to be among children and teens in the United States.

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Here is a sampling of at what age children around the world are given their own cell phones. Yet, she added, there were differences across countries in how much children were allowed to use their smartphones in school and other places.

They had no access to Wi-Fi and had to turn off their smartphones, whereas children in Denmark reported using the smartphone for class activities more frequently," Mascheroni said. They used Wi-Fi networks when possible and switched 3G or 4G off to save money and power.

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In the United States, cell phone ownership seems to begin at a younger age. When did kids get a service plan? Keeping tabs on your kids' screen time Those numbers came as no shock to Douglas Gentile, a psychology professor at Iowa State University who was not involved in the new report but has studied the effects of media use on children. I can see it at the airport, for example. I can see it at restaurants, and I can even see it in my own home where my younger daughter watches almost no television, but she'll watch lots of TV shows on her phone," Gentile told CNN in October.

Outside the US and Europe, children tend to own their first mobile phones when they are older. Beware of Seoul's 'smartphone zombies' Cell phones are a great way to stay in touch anytime, anywhere. But is your child old enough to have one?

The Best Phones for Kids

You need to know what's involved -- in terms of both the phone and your child's well-being -- and the potential consequences of letting your child have a phone before deciding about adding that second line to your account. You can't beat the convenience. If your child has a cell phone, you can call or text him to find out where he is and what he's doing and inform him of your own plans.

It can make you feel safer just knowing where your kids are. And in an emergency, a cell phone can be crucial if your child needs to reach you -- or vice versa. That's partly why many parents are buying their kids cell phones. Twice as many children have cell phones now as in For your teen, having a phone offers the same kind of security it does for you. Teens also may see having a phone as part of fitting in with their friends.

But there are also some potential downsides to consider. Cell phones work by using radio waves. That's radiation though it's not like what you'd get from an X-ray. Does that affect health -- especially if children start using phones at a very young age when their brains are still developing? In , an international study showed no link between cell phone use and brain tumors in adolescents and teens. The researchers pointed out , though, that the people in that study didn't use their phones as much as people do today. Still, experts say longer studies are needed.

The FDA's web site states that "the scientific evidence does not show a danger to any users of cell phones from radiofrequency energy exposure, including children and teenagers. It's possible for cell phone users to reduce their exposure by spending less time on the phone or by using a hands-free device or speaker mode when making a call.

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Sleep or Lack Thereof. If your child has her cell phone with her at bedtime , will she actually go to sleep or will she stay up and text? Pediatricians are seeing growing evidence that cell phones, especially those that allow kids to text, can disrupt children's sleep patterns.

Sleep is important for growing kids. Texting while driving is a huge risk. Other research has found that talking on the phone -- hands-free or not -- affects driving ability as much as drinking alcohol. Don't assume your teen won't use a phone while driving. In one survey, more than half of teens aged who own cell phones said they have talked on the phone while driving, and a third of those teens who text admitted that they have texted while driving.

It's just shifting attention. So kids think they can text and pay attention to the road, but in reality they can't. Above all, set a good example. If they see you texting or talking while driving, you've undermined the lesson you want them to learn. Cell phones can also put social media, videos, games, movies, music, and TV shows within reach.

Are you ready for your child to have that kind of access? Social interaction can be positive. It's one way kids can learn to relate to other kids. But there is also the potential for "cyber bullying ," which is social harassment via text, instant messaging, or other social media. Many smartphones have a "location sharing" feature, which could raise concerns about people stalking kids as they go from place to place.

There isn't a lot of research yet on how cell phones affect mental and emotional health.

When Should You Get Your Kid a Cell Phone?

But early studies show that frequent texting and emailing can disrupt kids' concentration. Caroline Knorr, parenting editor with the nonprofit group Common Sense Media, says, "Maturity and the ability to be responsible are more important than a child's numerical age. She says, "We want our kids to be independent, to be able to walk home from school and play at the playground without us.

We want them to have that old-fashioned, fun experience of being on their own, and cell phones can help with that. But parents have to do their research and talk to their children and make sure they're using the phones safely themselves, too. As your child becomes more independent think middle schoolers or high schoolers , they're closer to needing a phone than younger children whom you still take everywhere.