The majority of parents feel comfortable giving their children a cell phone between the ages of 9 and 16, a recent survey from Sprint and Techlicious found.
Among the 1,433 survey respondents – 833 of whom were parents – 84 percent chose an age between 9 and 16 and 38 percent said they would feel most comfortable when their child was between 12 and 14 years old. The second most popular age ranges, favored by 23 percent of respondents each, were 9-11 and 15-16. The 9-11 age range was found to be more popular among parents living in cities.
According to the survey, more than a third of respondents said they set rules for how their kids are allowed to use their smartphone, with 17 percent laying out different rules for weekends versus weekdays. The use of monitoring apps by parents, however, varied by location, with 30 percent of downtown parents reporting usage compared with 17 percent of rural or small town parents.
Variances in cell phone policies were also found between moms and dads. Among those surveyed, 37 percent of dads said they were more likely to give their child a smartphone in elementary school compared to just 24 percent of moms. Approximately 41 percent of mothers said they were more likely to give their kids a smartphone in middle school, compared to 34 percent of dads who said the same.
The survey was the second in Sprint’s Mobile Lifestyle Survey Series.