Kids, Phones, and Social Media

The question for parents of tweens used to be: When should I get my kid a phone? Now, there’s a bigger dilemma: When are they ready for social media? By the time they hit middle school — if not before — kids are lobbying to be able to interact with their friends on SnapChat, Instagram, and TikTok. They feel left out if other kids are allowed to have access to social media and they’re not. But there’s potential for serious harm if kids aren’t mature enough to make good decisions about what to share, who to share it with, and how to handle negative feedback.

To help with those decisions, we’ve checked in with experts about how to know when kids are ready for a phone, what kind of a starter phone might be appropriate for young kids, and how to provide parental controls when kids aren’t ready for unfettered access to apps and the internet. We also discuss when and how to introduce kids to social media, along with tips for monitoring social media use.