Our Viewpoint

This week our question of the week is "At what age should a child have a smartphone?" In rural Montana, we still have people with flip phones or, in rare cases, who have never had a cellphone.

It's nice to be able to keep in touch with your kids when they are away at a friend's house or coming home from sports trips. A quick text or phone call to check in is helpful. There's a fine balance, however, between keeping in touch and too much screen time.

The documentary Screenagers was recently shown in Thompson Falls and Plains, detailing the risks of too much screen time in children. According to the website screenagersmovie.com, the average age a child gets a smartphone is 10.3. In our opinion, that's a little young. Children get plenty of screen time with movies and tablets. While it's nice to be able to keep in touch at any given moment, parents should set boundaries on screen time and phone usage. It will help kids learn to be better communicators. And emoji hugs just aren't the same as the real thing.