The child’s first phone dilemma: ‘Parents need to get really involved in this’

With ongoing debate about the negative effects smartphones can have on developing minds, many parents are facing the question of exactly what to do for their child’s first phone. Illustration: Yes/Getty Images

About 20 years ago, a generation of Australian schoolchildren became the first to get mobile phones. Some pleaded, to varying degrees of success, for their parents to buy them a Motorola Razr flip phone, ideally in pink or silver. Playing the game Snake, which involved chasing pixels around a Nokia’s tiny screen to build your tail, was a rite of passage.

Since then, the question of when to buy a child a mobile phone has become more complicated.