The big guy in the red suit pays his annual visit this day next week and thousands (actually hundreds of thousands) of kids will get their first smartphone.

Good for them!

As well as being good fun, smartphones for kids have been shown to be great for improving digital literacy and supporting parenting. (Read the 2015 FOSI report.)

And yet ...

Phones are so powerful, so instant, so connected and the (results) so permanent that care is needed. The challenge is that many kids are simply not equipped to handle them safely.



Over the millennia natural selection has decreed that childhood & early adolescence should be times of exploration and impulsive risk taking.

Perhaps that was fine during the Stone Age when the most permanent mark a child could make was a handprint on a cave wall.

But now in the Digital Age, any photos a child captures next December 25th will be all over the world before the Wizard of Oz credits roll on TV.

Natural selection might now benefit those who can STOP-&-THINK.

At some stage over the holidays, you may set aside a little time to help your kids understand this new age of which they are the pioneers.

I know it's going to be hard to counteract a million years of evolution - but it's a start.

Research also shows that taking an interest in your child's digital life and encouraging safe behaviour early, helps grow their confidence & can reduce risk as they mature. And (although) they may not say it, the kids themselves also value it.

But for now, relax and have another mince pie.