Smart with your first smartphone

The smartphone is at the top of the wish list for many children and young people. No wonder, because the small device fulfils several wishes at once: it is a telephone, games console, camera, video camera, alarm clock, agenda and mobile chat room with friends. And apps can be used to continuously add further functions. This makes every smartphone unique - and the number one status symbol in an individualised society. But with a smartphone, you also buy the bag without knowing the cat inside: Parents are giving their child a device that will be able to do things tomorrow that they cannot foresee today. What's more, the smartphone opens a gateway to the internet - and unlike on the computer at home, parents can't see how long and, above all, where their children are surfing on their smartphone. «With no other device do parents inevitably relinquish as much control as they do with smartphones,» writes media educator Eveline Hipeli in the guidebook «Medien-Kids». Many parents carefully set up youth filters in their home network, for example, but fail to consider that young people can access all content unfiltered on the mobile network or in their favourite café network.

When is the right time?

«Hold out as long as you can. Smartphones are changing the way our children communicate - and not necessarily for the better, as they often no longer communicate at all without a device,» says internet safety expert Tony Anscombe in his media guide for parents. With a lot of persuasion, he was able to hold his son off until his 13th birthday. Not all parents will be able to do this. After all, the popular argument «but all my friends have...» is a solid one among young people: according to the 2016 JAMES study, 99 per cent of young people between the ages of 12 and 19 have a mobile phone. According to the 2015 MIKE study, half of 6 to 13-year-olds also already have their own mobile phone. And today, mobile phones are called smartphones. Practically nobody uses the old-fashioned push-button mobile phone anymore. «I wouldn't give the smartphone to the children quite so early, i.e. at the beginning of primary school,» says media educator Eveline Hipeli. For many parents, the transition to secondary school is still considered a better time - around the age of 13. However, this is no longer easy to achieve. «For many families, the smartphone is already an issue among primary school pupils from the 3rd or 4th year of primary school,» says Hipeli. Despite the pressure from friends and communication via WhatsApp groups, she advises: «Parents must decide for themselves when to give their child such a small computer in their trouser pocket. They know their child best.»

It is important to familiarise children with the use of such a device beforehand - for example by providing them with a device with far fewer functions or by slowly introducing them to their parents' smartphone. Special children's areas can also be set up in smartphones, for example with the Kids Place app on Android phones. (See also question below: How useful are filters?)

If you don't like rigid age requirements, you should take a close look at what your child is already capable of. «Can they already take responsibility for appointments, homework, pocket money? Does my child adhere to the rules of use that we have agreed for other media? Do they know that they can turn to a trusted person if they encounter content that upsets or frightens them? All of these things can be indicators of whether the time is right for a device as complex as a smartphone,» says Hipeli.

How do parents keep an eye on costs?

Many mobile phone providers have special contracts with a cost cap for the child's or teenager's mobile phone. Prepaid cards can also be a solution. «At some point, you simply run out of credit - that's how I learnt and it wasn't bad at all, because you think carefully about how you use it,» says Hipeli. The media educator also suggests that the children contribute to the costs with their pocket money. Of course, this is especially true if the children want an expensive contract with a flat rate for mobile data.

Children who have to wait for something until they are older are usually not harmed.

Media educator Evelin Hipeli

Should my children be able to download apps on their own?

To keep an overview of the child's app usage - and of course to control app costs - the child's smartphone can be connected via the parents' iTunes or Google Play Store accounts. If the parents keep their password to themselves, a dialogue is automatically initiated before a new app is downloaded. «This can be a good solution to start with or for young children. For parents, it also means that they find out what their child is interested in - which is anything but negative,» says Hipeli.

Many apps are initially free of charge. However, in order to make better use of them, purchases within the app become necessary, so-called in-app purchases. This is another reason why parents should know about their children's apps and familiarise them with the pitfalls that can quickly eat into their pocket money. At the age of 15 or 16, young people are unlikely to agree to a joint app account with their parents. Another agreement could be that the child shows and explains their apps a few times a month. «But of course, children can delete or hide questionable content beforehand. So a lot of groundwork needs to be done in terms of media literacy and a healthy relationship of trust needs to be established,» says Hipeli. In principle, the use of certain apps can of course also be prohibited. «Children who have to wait for something until they are older usually don't come to any harm.»

How useful are filters?

As at home on the PC, there are also smartphone filters that are designed to protect against content that is harmful to minors. Some smartphones also allow special user profiles for children. These are then severely restricted in their function - you can make phone calls and take photos, for example, but cannot access the internet. «Of course, filters can protect very young children in particular from coming across content that is harmful to minors in the first place. However, there is a danger that parents will be lulled into a false sense of security. Conversations are always more important than filters,» says Eveline Hipeli.

Here parents can find an overview of filter apps that make smartphones safer for children.

The licence agreement for children and parents

Before a child gets a smartphone, it is important that parents think about the desired and undesired use and discuss rules with the children. «Putting this in writing makes it more binding for both sides,» says Eveline Hipeli.

But a contract should really be negotiated and not simply imposed - and there should be clarity about the consequences if the contract is broken." Tony Ascombe suggests that the whole family should abide by the contract - for example, that parents should put their mobile phones in the designated place at mealtimes. You can simply download our sample contract as a PDF , which can serve as inspiration. The rules for your own family may of course differ. Families can also find a useful tool for creating their own rules at www.mediennutzungsvertrag.de. Important: Regular intervals should be set when the rules are reviewed and adjusted if necessary. After all, different rules naturally apply to a 17-year-old than to a 12-year-old.