Hi there everyone, my name is Jessie Weinberger and I'm an Internet Safety Instructor. I teach students, school districts, and parents all over the US. And the most typical question I get is, how do I know if my child is ready for a smartphone? So if your child is under 14, usually my answer is hell no, they're not ready for a smartphone. And if they're under 14, you're actually asking the wrong question. The right question is, as a parent, are you ready for your child to have a smartphone? That's really the question. The concern about cyberbullying starts in your house because your child could easily either be the bully or the victim. The concern about child pornography needs to be managed by you in your house. The issue with security risks starts in your house with your rules and your discipline in your consequences. School districts, teachers, app developers, all of these people are not there available and responsible for raising your children. That's your job. The book stops in your house. It's your job to parent your children. I routinely see second and third grade students with fully featured and enabled smartphones. This is horrifying and a really, really, really bad idea. And child under 14 years old has no business owning a smartphone unless you're going to devote really a significant amount of time and energy on supervision and snooping. And when I tell you significant amount of time, it's significant. Here's the other thing. Once you give your kid a device, it's almost impossible to go backwards unless you're willing to take the device away from them. And my guess is if you're giving a 7, 8, 9, 10 year old device, you're probably not going to be too ready to take it away in the first place. Do not get your under 14 year old a smartphone unless you're willing and able to learn about every single social platform and app your kid uses. You're willing and able to snoop on that phone or device mostly smartphones at least twice a week. You set house rules and force the rules and provide consequences for breaking the rules. If you're already exhausted by that list, which I am routinely, then your kid should not own a smartphone. But so what's the big deal about owning a smartphone, right? Like what's the worst that could happen? Well, the underside of that rock is really pretty ugly. No predation, sex, torsion, child pornography, cyberbullying from people they do and don't know online gambling, online narcotics, which are conveniently sent right to your front door. And handy dandy instructional videos on everything under the sun from pornography to how to make a bomb, to drug pipe construction, to the best way to conceal bulimia and anorexia, to vodka soak tampons to get the quick buzz without rating on an inhaler. So all of this really fun facts and great fun instructional videos for children. Take a step back from the Verizon counter wherever it is that you're standing and think about if you have the time and the emotional fortitude to handle everything that comes with young children having a smartphone. I'm going to tell you, it is an exhausting process. I do this for a living. If your kid really needs a phone because of a divorce situation or the kid is a long commute home from school, I get it, get him a flip phone. The best alternative, forget the phone, send your kids out to play in the dirt and if they're not sure what dirt is, show them a YouTube video. And please do me a favor, remember that you are the parent. You don't need your child to agree with your decisions and you don't need anybody else's permission to parent your children. If you don't provide appropriate consequences to your children now, the world outside your house will be more than happy to do it for you and you're not going to like the outcomes. Just tell them no, it's really kind of easy and it's going to be a lot more fun once you get the hang of it.