With all the talk about the downsides of smartphones for teens, parents have turned to smartwatches as a way to stay in touch with their young children while avoiding the full Internet and social media access of a phone.
At least that was what people said a few years ago. But more recently, more and more companies are marketing smartwatches to children as young as 4 and 5 years old. And at younger ages, it’s not children asking for these devices, but parents looking to keep an eye on their children for safety’s sake.
That’s what EdSurge senior reporter Emily Tate Sullivan discovered when she spent months researching the recent boom in kids’ smartwatches, for example. a report which EdSurge co-published with WIRED magazine last week.
“In the minds of the parents I spoke to, the worst-case scenario always looms,” she says. “These parents are thinking, ‘If there’s a school shooting, if there’s a lockdown, I want to be able to communicate with my child in that locked classroom.’ If they are removed, I want to be able to know exactly where they are. Maybe there’s still a watch on their wrist and I can track them. I mean, these are such improbable things, but it doesn’t really matter. Fear is omnipresent. This is a truly powerful force.
But if parents are focused on physical safety when handing smartwatches to their children, they may not consider the downsides of starting a digital life so early, according to digital media experts. And schools are increasingly viewing these devices as a distraction — sometimes parents texting their children during the school day. Yet watches are often not included in school bans on smartphones, and they are not always mentioned in discussions about the effects of digital devices on children.
For this week’s EdSurge podcast, we’re revisiting the story with an interview with Tate Sullivan, including details she wasn’t able to fit into the final piece. And in the second half of the episode, the author reads the full article so you can find this story in podcast form.
Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or on the player below.
