I don’t think this is a simple yes-or-no question. However, a smartphone can be useful; giving a child unrestricted access when they are very young may expose them to content, create bad habits, and subject them to social pressure they are not ready to handle.

What matters to me is controlled, gradual access.

Screen time should have clearly defined limits. Parents need to know which apps are installed, what content their child can access, and who they can communicate with. Parents shouldn’t learn about parental controls only after a problem occurs; they should understand how these tools work and set them up correctly from the start.

Search is also a major area; rather than giving young children free access to the open web, parents can use child-friendly search engines, restricted browsing modes, and age-appropriate content platforms.

Age is also a factor. I don’t believe children should have personal, unrestricted access to smartphones as soon as the technology becomes available, since at a young age their ability to understand risks, manage their attention, detect manipulation, and make sound online decisions is still developing. Instead, parents can delay access and then increase it gradually as children get better at handling it.

Above all, technology should not replace parenting. Although controls and filters are useful, children also need to know why certain restrictions are in place, what they might encounter online, and what to do if something feels wrong.

The aim must not be to keep children away from technology altogether since they are going to have to grow up in a digital world; rather, it should be to bring them into contact with that world at the appropriate time, setting suitable boundaries and providing sufficient guidance so that one day they can use technology responsibly by themselves.