With the rate of moral decadence in our society today and the fact that children live what they see and hear. Should a child in the secondary school level be allowed to own a phone?
Social media being order of the day and having a phone being probably the factor why children succeed in engaging in relationships. Is it fine to allow them own a phone or deny them access to it at that stage.
For me I think denying them access to phone at that stage, will help inculcate a reading habit in them and shut them out of the social media world too, to allow them focus more.

Let's hear from you guys and learn

Death of moral decadence is right.
Buy them a phone. If you don't, they'll watch the same porn on their friends' phones at school. I saw a video of a small girl giving a small boy a hand job in the class while the teacher was teaching. They were wearing face masks so I knew it was a recent video. I've heard kids less than 12 singing Naira Marley's Opotoyi word for word. Same with Tecno's Put it in (na this one shock me pass) or Reminisce's Ogaranya. You can't change anything. The things you want to protect them from are already with them.

Hhmm... I had my first phone when I was 14. Thinking about it now, it only served to communicate with my family and to call my friends to know in whose house we were meeting next, lol. It made life easier and helped me stay 'connected'. My parents got it for me cause they felt I needed it for some reasons.

I understand the reasons you'd want to deny your kids that privilege but if their friends have phones, they'd still be exposed nevertheless. Besides, will you also deny a teen access to computers? I'm asking cause in this present age, denying kids access to computers is like sending them to school without pencils. A kid doesn't have to go for special 'computer lessons', a kid should grow up using computers. They can use the time for computer lessons to learn something more advanced. This is because everything is self service now and life has gone electronic. If you really want to make things any easier for your kid, computer shouldn't be one of those things they have to specially learn but just a tool they use to learn other things. I don't know about Nigeria but I believe it's pretty much the same thing over there.

So instead of trying to cover their eyes, why not leave them open and navigate the waters with them as closely as possible? If you hide the world from them now that you still have the ability to mould thier mindset, is it then when they become adults in the university that you'd suddenly expose them to the world? I'm afraid you'd have lost the opportunity to handhold them at that point cause you don't handhold an adult. If your kid isn't doing something bad just cause he doesn't about it, then he's not necessarily a good kid but just a positively ignorant one, and you can't really tell how he'd fare when he's eventually exposed. A good kid is one who knows why they shouldn't do certain things. You need to able to tell how your kid will use a phone knowing that the device can be used for good and for bad. The earlier you have this knowledge, the higher the chances of correcting any vice before they become an adult. When your kid understands the negative implication of doing something, you wouldn't have to worry about what they do in your absence. And to achieve this, you'd have to start early to mould their mindset, watch them, take note of thier progress and re-strategize when necessary. I'm afraid you can't do all these by keeping them ignorant even if it's for good.

My summary is, if you feel they need a phone, don't let the fear of corruption stop you from getting one for them.

WoundedLamb:
Hhmm... I had my first phone when I was 14. Thinking about it now, it only served to communicate with my family and to call my friends to know in whose house we were meeting next, lol. It made life easier and helped me stay 'connected'. My parents got it for me cause they felt I needed it for some reasons.

I understand the reasons you'd want to deny your kids that privilege but if their friends have phones, they'd still be exposed nevertheless. Besides, will you also deny a teen access to computers? I'm asking cause in this present age, denying kids access to computers is like sending them to school without pencils. A kid doesn't have to go for special 'computer lessons', a kid should grow up using computers. They can use the time for computer lessons to learn something more advanced. This is because everything is self service now and life has gone electronic. If you really want to make things any easier for your kid, computer shouldn't be one of those things they have to specially learn but just a tool they use to learn other things. I don't know about Nigeria but I believe it's pretty much the same thing over there.

So instead of trying to cover their eyes, why not leave them open and navigate the waters with them as closely as possible? If you hide the world from them now that you still have the ability to mould thier mindset, is it then when they become adults in the university that you'd suddenly expose them to the world? I'm afraid you'd have lost the opportunity to handhold them at that point cause you don't handhold an adult. If your kid isn't doing something bad just cause he doesn't about it, then he's not necessarily a good kid but just a positively ignorant one, and you can't really tell how he'd fare when he's eventually exposed. A good kid is one who knows why they shouldn't do certain things. You need to able to tell how your kid will use a phone knowing that the device can be used for good and for bad. The earlier you have this knowledge, the higher the chances of correcting any vice before they become an adult. When your kid understands the negative implication of doing something, you wouldn't have to worry about what they do in your absence. And to achieve this, you'd have to start early to mould their mindset, watch them, take note of thier progress and re-strategize when necessary. I'm afraid you can't do all these by keeping them ignorant even if it's for good.

My summary is, if you feel they need a phone, don't let the fear of corruption stop you from getting one for them.

They have access to computers both at home and in school which is necessary, but my intention is centered on phone which i don't see as important requirement for their development at that stage.
Nevertheless I learnt some things from your comment

Nwachacho:


They have access to computers both at home and in school which is necessary, but my intention is centered on phone which i don't see as important requirement for their development at that stage.
Nevertheless I learnt some things from your comment

Ok. Then you can ignore the computer part and concentrate on the other points raised. I only mentioned computer cause kids can still use the computer to access whatever you're worried about.

You're welcome.

Yes... It's not bad for a sec sch child to have a phone in this day and age, but the type of phone matters.

A child in sec sch can be allowed to have this torchlight phone or non-browsing phone strictly for communication and emergencies. Once they reach uni, then their phone can be upgraded to android or browsing phone.

Allowing kids have access to browsing phone at such tender age will lead to misuse of the phone. There are more disadvantages than advantages for sec sch kids having browsing phone at that age.

Children should not be allowed access to sophisticated electronic gadgets without control and close monitoring. This is because the age we live in entails curiosity from children and therefore granting them access to some gadgets with proper supervision will do some good.