With the advent of smartphone technology, many parents let their children use their smartphones. While it may seem harmless, the benefits of allowing children to use smartphones can be argued. Smartphones can impact a child's development. Children should not have smartphones due to the impact they have on the child's development. Before smartphones, what did kids do for fun? The children spent their free time playing outdoors with their friends. This is where children learned to interact with others. They made friends and used their imaginations to have fun. Children didn't need electronic devices to have fun, they needed to have fun with others. With the availability of smartphones, children are starting to become familiar with them at an early age. This leads parents to think that they can cause social problems for their children by using devices too much or that they will be harassed for not using smart devices. This leaves some parents between a rock and a hard place. (Craig)Smartphones prevent children from interacting socially. Children who use their parents' smartphones to play games miss out on the opportunity to interact with others. Children can become addicted to games, this can cause problems later in life when they need social skills. According to an article by Nina Pilapil, games designed for children can prevent them from interacting socially. Parents should limit the time their children spend on smartphones and encourage them to play with friends instead. While smartphone exposure isn't necessarily a bad thing in small doses, it should be limited and monitored. (Pilapil)Children are becoming more and more obese. This is caused in part by a lack of physical activity. Smartphones are......middle of paper......they're too big. Children will have fewer social interactions and more health and developmental problems when they use smartphones excessively. Children should not have smartphones due to the impact smartphones have on child development. Works Cited Craig, Wilson. “Tiny fingers itch for the iPhone.” USA Today academic search completed. Network. 24 April 2014 "Parents unaware of the smartphone danger." BBC News. February 10, 2014. Web. April 24, 2014. Pilapil, Nina. “4 Dangers Posed by Smartphones on Children.” HowToLearn.com. May 5, 2012. Web. April 30, 2014. Rosin, Hanna. "The touch-screen generation. (Cover article)." Atlantic Monthly (10727825) 311.3 (2013): 56-65. Academic research completed. Network. 29 April 2014Whitson, Signe. “The Gift That Keeps Distracting: 5 Rules for Your Child's New Smartphone.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, January 7, 2014. Web. April 30. 2014.