Through the eyes of experts: How to choose a mobile phone for a child? | Money.cz<

"Dad, mom, get me a cell phone. Everyone in the class already has it. ”Many parents face such longings every day. Choosing a mobile phone for a child is something that should not be underestimated. If you can correctly explain what and when children should use the phone, how they should take care of it and that "someone" really pays and even has to make money on it, your child can acquire a number of useful habits. If, on the other hand, he gets used to the fact that whenever the mobile phone breaks, a new one ends up on the bedside table the next day, and that the bill is paid automatically, no matter how high, you are in trouble.

But let's go from theory to practice. Choosing a mobile phone pays off to consult with its future owner. It is likely that your child will know more about modern technology in primary school than you do. Think about it, too, and discuss it with your child later, what the phone should be for. Don't buy an iPhone or the latest Samsung for a freshman, because it just doesn't pay off. Your offspring at the age of six will certainly not use the vast majority of functions, and you can bet with certainty that your mobile phone will be lost on a school trip at least once or that it will fall to the ground at least three times a day. If you buy a phone for a child in the second grade of elementary school or at a multi-year grammar school, you will have a harder time. There's no point in dishonoring him unnecessarily with your classmates by getting him our president's favorite cell phone. On the other hand, if he wants a more expensive phone, let him make regular "installments" from his pocket money or money earned on brigades.

And what advice would experts, technology experts and parents of children who already have the choice of a phone for their children behind them? At what age do they think it is appropriate to buy a phone for a child? How to approach paying the bill - will the tariff pay off, or rather a prepaid card? And when the child is a little older, should the phone be paid for out of pocket, or at least what he calls above the set limit? And does it even make sense for a child to buy a more expensive phone?

Martin Kasa

entrepreneur and investor, founder of the Kasa.cz e-shop and the Pilulka.cz portal

Most children today have an absolutely accurate idea of ​​what they expect from the phone and what they want. So the choice will be made by bargaining with the children and their argument "Dad, I'll be completely out of it." Especially for children, a large selection of applications and a large display will be important. I think that up to 5,000 high-quality devices can be found today, and I think the optimal age for buying a mobile phone for a child is the second to third grades of primary school.

And how to approach paying the bill and babysitting? It's the same as pocket money, and I think that financial literacy, ie the art of handling money, needs to be taught to children from an early age. In this regard, I am more in favor of freer access and subsequent control than tough restrictions from the beginning. For older children, spending can be addressed through some form of co-payment. It has a lot to do with the overall pocket money setting in the family. Applications are a big problem today. For most brands, it is not possible to start using the phone without a credit card. It can then be spent on errors from various applications. Overall, it is a very difficult situation today that previous generations did not have to deal with.

Josef Uchytil

financial advisor and mortgage specialist Partners

Take your child into nature, show him a flowering meadow, enjoy the view of grazing cows with him, talk to an old woman sitting on the doorstep of her cottage, experience every moment, talk to him, let him describe your feelings. Or get him a cell phone and ninety percent of the beauty of the world will be overlooked - with eyes buried in the screen, instead of words chat shortcuts and instead of feelings smileys. Before I start school, I don't see a single reasonable reason to buy a phone for a child. There are two reasons with the school - the telephone as a communication tool that will make life easier and for us, the parents, with a child in the event of a canceled circle or a missed bus; and the telephone as a social need. Most children will have a phone, and no matter how hard you try to cultivate your child's independence from the environment, you will struggle with the fact that it also wants to belong somewhere, it does not want to be "on the edge". The solution is to stand up to the mobile phone as a tool for financial literacy. The child will have a prepaid amount, which he has to manage, otherwise he is unlucky. As part of his pocket money, he can save on a more expensive phone, but he will only receive an ordinary one from his parents who can handle a phone call or an SMS. They learn to perceive the priorities and value of necessary things or functions. Whatever step he takes, discuss with him what leads him to it and what consequences he expects. Of course in person, not by phone…

Dana Tomášková

Marketing Director of T-Mobile for the household segment

It is advisable for a child to buy a phone at the first stage of primary school. He often already spends more time away from home, so it is good to have it "on receipt". However, parents should choose a mobile phone at a reasonable price - after all, it is necessary to take into account that the child may fall or lose it and so on.

The classic push-button telephone will soon not be enough. Children have no problem controlling the smartphone and these devices are available at a lower price level. In addition, the payment can be broken down into monthly installments if the parent has a lump sum.

If the parents want to keep the child's spending within the monthly limit of approximately CZK 200, a prepaid card is a more suitable option. From CZK 200 upwards, the flat rate may be better - it depends on where the child is calling and whether he has a smartphone. If so, you also need to think about connecting to the Internet and purchase a tariff with mobile internet or a package with mobile internet. As part of the "financial education" of an older child who already manages his / her pocket money, it is certainly appropriate to make an agreement that, for example, he / she will pay for the over-limit himself / herself.

Richard Valenta

director of the educational portal eKabinet.cz

Perhaps a bit of a neglected part of the use of smartphones (but also tablets) by children and young people is the involvement of these touch devices in teaching and learning in general. For this target group, it is important for me that mobile phones and other devices are not only an opportunity to have fun and connect with the world, but also a source of knowledge and discovery. The undeniable advantage is that there are a number of free or paid applications and digital educational content. In addition, it has an increasingly accessible internet connection. Both in free time and during classes directly at school. There are already examples of schools that involve tablets in teaching. And many teachers routinely instruct pupils to search for the necessary information on the Internet and, for example, on their own facilities, directly in class, for example in project teaching. As important as the school approach is, the approach of parents and their role in raising children in the field of digital literacy.

Pavel Černoch

owner of Tarifomat

Recently, there are more and more parents in the Czech Republic who buy mobile phones for their children when they enter first class. The main reason is to be in touch with them as much as possible and to have an idea of ​​where they are and what they are doing. In 65% of cases, parents buy their children prepaid cards, which they charge for CZK 150 per month. The remaining 35% of parents then choose tariffs for which they set a fixed limit of up to CZK 200 per month. In both cases, however, they have a clear idea of ​​the monthly expenditure they can regulate. When choosing a suitable phone, parents should keep in mind that younger children usually cannot imagine the financial value of things. For them, the phone is a toy that sometimes falls out of a briefcase, hand or bench like other toys. It is therefore, in my opinion, useless to buy expensive telephones for smaller children. They and their peers have other interests and priorities at their age. For older children, the choice of telephone is a consideration, but here the parents could come up with an agreement on the schoolboy's contribution from his pocket money. Parents could set a financial ceiling and the schoolboy could choose the phone himself according to this parameter.

Ondřej Malý

Member of the Council of the Czech Telecommunication Office

Opinions on when to buy a child's first mobile phone are different, but apparently it should not be until just before school, around the age of six. It is better to reach for a "baby" phone that can call parents and locate the child, but otherwise is limited in features. A normal phone makes sense around the beginning of the second grade, but it is necessary to teach the child the etiquette of using it - so that, for example, there is no unhealthy connection to parents (calls for every stupidity) or so that the child does not use the phone for bullying / cyberbullying. But as far as I know, no one deals with this ethical issue very much (I would like to be wrong). It would certainly be nice to include new technologies in education, just as traffic education could easily learn to educate. This topic is finally being talked about and written about in the media. In adolescence, children become independent and will use the phone differently than adults think. A technology analyst recently wrote on Twitter that he had received a statement from his 12-year-old daughter - one call, about five thousand SMS and a lot of data. According to one US study, children also use phones as a replacement for their laptops, as the primary Internet access device that helps with homework. The question of payment is quite complicated. The "prepayment" is more educational, because if the child pays it extra in pocket, he or she can determine the priority of individual expenses. On the other hand, the offer of "prepayments" is outdated, desperate and embarrassing on the part of Czech operators compared to abroad, and extremely expensive for people who text or want to use mainly data. Operators could learn from, for example, Finland or the UK. Because of this, it will probably be more rational to resort to a less educational, but cheaper tariff for the family budget. As for the device, I assume that children will be far more informed than their parents about what they are "flying". And finally, more important than all possible parental locks, snooping software or various blockers-limiters, there is always good parenting.

Petr Koubský

analyst and publicist, publisher of the magazine 067.cz

The reality is that most children have a cell phone from the age of ten or earlier. Which to choose and how to pay is up to the parents' discretion - I logically recommend the cheapest due to breakage or loss, but expect that the child will try to stamp a "touch", both because of social status among friends and because of Facebook, music, video, games, etc. Spending can be most conveniently reduced by a prepaid card, but higher prices speak against it. Choose the tariff with the fact that the child consumes much more data than voice communications. Prohibitions and restrictions will not help much, it is necessary to explain to children how these things work, including payment, and to make sure that they really understand it. They will live with it all their lives and they must learn it.

Markéta Kuklová

Vodafone spokesman

Today, technology plays a leading role in the world of children. Parents should be vigilant and concerned about what their children use cell phones and tablets for. The time when a child buys a mobile phone depends entirely on the parents' opinion. They often make decisions, especially with regard to the safety of children, they want to be in constant contact with them. Mobile phones can also help lead children to responsibility, under the supervision of parents they learn to be responsible for how many SMS they send and how many minutes they call.

When a parent decides to give a child a mobile phone, it is good to choose wisely. Younger schoolchildren will not use the potential of an expensive phone and they only need one of the basic smartphones. They mainly use SMS, calls, a camera or an MP3 player, while older ones even surf the Internet.

Gabriela Křivánková

founder of the non-profit company Yourchance

When choosing a mobile phone, it is good to consider what the child will use it for, whether it will only be a check by the parents that everything is fine, or whether it will also use it for communication with friends, internet connection, photography and more. Next, the age of the child needs to be considered - the younger the child, the more convenient it is to control. A child at a younger age will not use all the functionalities. It also depends on the price that parents are willing and able to pay for the phone. Buying an expensive mobile phone can be quite a burden on the family budget. In addition, overpriced phones carry other risks, such as theft, loss and, in the case of younger children, the inability to realize the value of the thing entrusted to them and thus a lower lifespan.

At what age a child buys a mobile phone is an individual decision for each family. A common argument of parents to buy a phone at a young school age is the safety of children and the need for communication. On the other hand, a mobile phone should certainly not replace the personal communication of parents and children. Due to the development of sound financial decision-making and mastering the principles of money management, it is a good option to involve the child in the partial reimbursement of telephone costs. The amount of the child's share in the payments for telephone services depends on the amount of the out-of-pocket allowance, whether or not he / she is already on a part-time basis and, of course, also depends on mutual agreement between the parents and the child.

When choosing, it is especially important to choose wisely. For younger children who are not yet fully aware of the value of the entrusted phone, I recommend considering cheaper options. Today, there are many that, although less expensive, are equipped with a camera, color display and a number of reinstalled programs. Elementary school children and older already require more advanced functionality. They like to try different applications, listen to music, watch videos, etc. Unfortunately, a mobile phone is now a sign of status for older children. So it is no exception that classmates compete with each other, who has a better phone, who can use more "hacks and programs". Here I see a very important role for parents, who should discuss with schoolchildren about the basic values ​​of life, which is really important. It is necessary for the child to realize that it is more important who he is than what he owns, in this case, what the brand of the mobile phone is.

Lucie Jungmannová

O2 Czech Republic media communication specialist

A survey conducted by the O2 operator among a thousand respondents showed that more than 80 percent of people would buy a mobile phone for their offspring within the age of 12. Over ten percent of respondents would equip their child with a mobile phone even at the latest when they start school.

At the same time, more than two thirds of adults think that a mobile phone worth up to two thousand crowns will suffice for children under the age of 18. Women are a bit more economical than men, 73 percent of them would buy a mobile phone within 2,000, and ten percent less for men. Opinions on the price for the phone do not differ even with regard to household income - regardless of its amount, parents buy children mobile phones most often in the price category of 300 to 1999 crowns.

In terms of phone costs, according to the survey, 76 percent of parents share the cost of using their children's mobile phones. People in the 35-44 age group are the most involved in financing the costs associated with operating a mobile phone. More than 65 percent of them pay or contribute at least a partial phone bill to children.

Patrick Zandl

journalist and businessman

survey

Whose opinion did you like the most?

Choose a phone after consulting with children, according to what they want and what they need and what is affordable. For example, the eldest daughter does not want touch phones, wants a keyboard and does not want a smartphone. Another daughter would like an iPhone - while the oldest one can be accommodated quite easily, I consider the iPhone a 13-year-old investment to be an inefficient investment. In general, it depends on your aversion to loss - children will break the phone quickly, they will lose it. So I prefer something that is not expensive so that there is no unnecessary fuss ...

The time it takes to get a phone depends on the upbringing of the children and the specific situation. If the children commute to school alone, go to clubs or visit friends, it is quite appropriate that they have a mobile phone and can let themselves know or be called. This contributes to peace of mind and easier agreement. But there are families where parents don't want to be constantly aware of where the children are - I think it's very individual.

I hated prepaid cards with children. The most common excuse for not calling was that they ran out of credit. So I prefer post-paid cards with a very low flat rate. There is an agreement with us on how many children can spend via mobile phone, and this is strictly adhered to. When the child is a little older, he should pay for the phone from his pocket money, or at least what he calls above the set limit.

When it comes to the quality and price of the phone, the media once convinced me that if I don't buy a supermobile for children, a bad father will be insensitive to their needs. When I talked to the children about what is appreciated among their peers on their mobile phones, it was mainly Bluetooth for ten-year-olds, ie the possibility of exchanging pictures and songs, which, among other things, handicapped the iPhone. So a cheap mobile phone with Android fully suited the needs of children. The fact that this is a low-cost affair, which seemed extremely slow to me, was not important for the children, nor did they register it. Personally, I noticed only annoyances with expensive mobile phones in children. Parents still check to see if they have fallen and so on. With a cheaper cell phone, I let it go. As for the financial limit, it was solved by a data plan, children let you know via data messages, exceptionally via SMS. And of course wifi helped at school and at home. But of course, I reckon that the "machine park" renewal cycle is more frequent than before, touch phones don't last that long, and after two years, the phone is ready to be scrapped.