Samsung exec says he wouldn't give a smartphone to his daughter until she was 11

A apical exec astatine South Korean tech elephantine Samsung said helium did not springiness his girl her ain smartphone earlier she turned 11 years old.

"From my idiosyncratic perspective, my girl got a smartphone erstwhile she was 11," James Kitto, vice president caput of the MX Division for the U.K. and Ireland, told the BBC's "Today" vigor show Friday. 

"I personally wouldn't person fixed her 1 early, but it is simply a parental determination arsenic to erstwhile you should get your kid a phone," helium said.

Plenty of parents are giving their children phones earlier then, according to a 2021 study by reappraisal tract Common Sense Media, which reported much than two-fifths (42%) of children person their ain telephone by property 10.

That fig past increases to 71% by property 12 and by 14, it's 91%.

"Whatever prime you make, and immoderate property you marque that prime for your child, it is important to guarantee that, if they are accessing the internet, they are accessing it successful a harmless way," Kitto added.

All mobile telephone providers person escaped parental power features which tin bounds the contented children tin entree done the net connected their handsets, but these are not ever automatically switched on, according to communications watchdog Ofcom.

Ready for a phone?

Deciding whether oregon not a child is acceptable to ain a smartphone should beryllium based connected their ain improvement alternatively than a circumstantial age, according to Megan Morena, a pediatrics prof astatine the University of Wisconsin. 

"The existent grounds doesn't enactment a circumstantial property astatine which a smartphone is oregon is not recommended," Morena told CNBC.

"Using a milestone attack is apt a amended mode to measure a child's involvement and readiness for a phone," she said.

—CNBC's Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.