Persuavise Speech

Running head: SHOULD CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 10 OWN CELL PHONES? 1

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SHOULD CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 10 OWN CELL PHONES?

Assignment 3.1: The Persuasive Speech

COM 201 – The Power of Effective Speaking

May 20, 2020

Should Children under the Age of 10 Own Cell Phones?

Always mediate about your legacy, you are the author of it. Today I want to engage in you into the discussion on whether children under the age of ten own cell phones. The use of cell phones has facilitated communication and has other importance due to technological advancement. It is not surprising to find that most children today own cellphones, which is a result of technology which children are aware of, and parents are pressured to provide them with cell phones at an early age (Tyler & Schmitz,2017). With the need to provide a cell phone to them, the question that is left unanswered is whether the children themselves are prepared for the responsibility of owning a phone. The decision on whether children under ten years should own phone is based on weighing the benefits versus risks of cell phones to them

The benefits of owning a cell phone at the age of ten includes:

1) Owning a cell phone at an early age provides children a chance to communicate emergency issues because many families do not have a home phone and also the public telephones are seen as past.

2) Children have the opportunity for social interaction with their age mates. Through texting and talking, there is increased social contact among children.

3) Furthermore, owning a cell phone for children under the age of ten provides them with the opportunity to acquire intermediate knowledge for academic or personal use. For instance, a grade two pupil may use social media to gain academic knowledge to use in their work.

4) Lastly, owning a cell phone to children creates entertainment since children are more interested in funny things, a cell phone can give them the ability to watch funny things through the YouTube app.

There are various risks associated with the ownership of cell phones to children under the age of ten.

Parents are the ones entitled to provide cell phones to children if there is a need. However, it is important to explore the risks of children owning a cell phone while under the age of ten.

When exploring the risks, one should consider the following:

· How the child is responsible for carrying a phone; for instance, children under the age of ten tend not to be responsible for finding their clothes or school homework; how about being accountable to a cell phone considering its costs.

· Another consideration is the impact of the cell phone to their health. Children at this age, like entertainment and spending long hours in screen lights, may be obese.

· Lastly, there is a need to consider the impact of the social impact due to cell phone ownership to children.

Considering the three points when exploring the risk for children under ten years to own a cell phone, it highlights various risks, and they include:

1) Cell phone ownership is the primary cause of reduced academic performance to children under the age of ten (Miller et al.,2019). Those with phones tend to chat with their friends while in class; hence they do not pay attention to what is taught; as a result, they start to miss vital lessons and fail in exams.

2) Another risk with a cell phone is that it is associated with medical issues such as hypertension and obesity because children addicted to phones do not have time for physical activity.

3) The last risk is that cell phones to minors contribute to immoral behavior because they can access inappropriate media and share it with their peers.

To conclude, cell phone ownership to children under the age of ten has various benefits and risks in which parents a decision must consider them before making the decision. The benefit is that it facilitates communication in case of emergencies, entertainment opportunity for children, and gain to intermediate knowledge. The risks are that owning phones to children can expedite bad behavior, lead to low academic performance, and medical issues. Therefore, weighing the benefits and risks, it concludes that children under ten years should not own cell phones because of the negative impact.

Reference

Miller, A. B., Sears, M., Hardell, L., Oremus, M., & Soskolne, C. L. (2019). Risks to health and well-being from radio-frequency radiation emitted by cell phones and other wireless devices. Frontiers in public health, 7, 223.

Tyler, K. A., & Schmitz, R. M. (2017). Using cell phones for data collection: Benefits, outcomes, and intervention possibilities with homeless youth. Children and youth services review, 76, 59-64.