Bill Gates reveals the 'safe' minimum age for kids to get a smartphone

Bron: tenplay.com.au/news/national/april-2017/Bill%20Gates-reveals-the-safe-minimum-age-for-kids-to-get-a-smartphone
27 april 2017

You know our culture's tech obsession has gone too far, when even the man who created the modern computer industry says we should get our kids offline.

Bill Gates has spoken out in an interview saying he doesn’t think children should be allowed to own a smartphone until they’re 14.

The move has been lauded by technology and parenting experts, who have argued that parents should resist the urge to indulge children in tech for as long as possible.

The world’s richest man for the fourth year running has said he and wife Melinda banned their three children from owning phones until they were 14.

Bill and Melinda also set limits on screen time, so as to allow more time talking with family.

Speaking to a British newspaper, the billionaire touched on their set of rules and the discipline enforced.

“We don’t have cell phones at the table when we are having a meal, we didn’t give our kids cell phones until they were 14, and they complained other kids got them earlier,” he said.

“We often set a time after which there is no screen time and, in their case, that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

“You’re always looking at how it can be used in a great way – homework and staying in touch with friends – and also where it has gotten to excess.”

It might a case of too little, too late for Australian kids however.

According to the Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey, by the time Aussie kids are 10, one in every five will own a smartphone.

The number skyrockets once children hit 12, with more than three quarters of our young teens owning a smartphone.

Despite marketing things at young people, its revealing what tech creators actually think of their wares when it comes to their own children.

Before he passed away, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs famously answered a question from a New York Times reporter, asking him 'What do your children think about the new iPad?'
By saying that they wouldn't know, because they're banned in his house. 



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