Schools grapple with how to deal with student cell phone use throughout the year, but many educators say cell phone use is almost constant among older students. It is said that this is increasingly interfering with teaching.
What many schools have not addressed during the same period is the widespread adoption of smartwatches among younger children.
A few years ago, smartwatches — high-tech wearables that can make and receive calls and text messages, take photos and videos, share precise location tracking data, and more — became popular among preteens and early teens. Since then, elementary and middle school educators have noticed more and more devices in their classrooms and school buildings.
This summer, as schools grapple with revised device policies, often resulting in stricter rules regarding cell phone use, EdSurge decided to dive deeper into the world of smartwatches for kids.
We look to parents, teachers, We interviewed school leaders, smartwatch manufacturers, digital media experts, child development experts, and child psychologists.
In October, EdSurge published a long article on this topic, which our friends at WIRED co-published with us. You can also listen to audio versions of articles and podcast episodes that tell the story behind the story.
Key takeaways from our report include:
1. Smartwatches are becoming children’s first devices.
Smartwatches were launched about 10 years ago as a device for adults, but kids quickly took an interest in them.
As a result, more companies started rolling out watches specifically designed for children. Currently, companies like T-Mobile, Verizon, and Garmin are promoting smartwatches for children as young as 5 years old, and say their target audience ranges from 8 to 10 years old.
Sales data and anecdotal observations from educators indicate that this trend actually began around 2019-2020. As of this year, the children’s smartwatch market is estimated to be well over $1 billion and growing rapidly.
Most smartwatches cost around $150, making them more affordable for families than something like a smartphone.
Today’s children’s smartwatches are more sophisticated than they were even a few years ago. Many models now include features such as photo and video capture, video calling, access to a full keyboard for sending text messages, voice messaging, group chat, geofencing, and more. A Verizon spokesperson described the children’s smartwatch as “a veritable wrist-worn replacement for a cell phone.”
2. Parental anxiety may be the main driver of this fast-growing market.
Children like to have their own devices. Many people said in interviews that it’s natural for children to want access to the same technology that their older siblings, parents, and colleagues have.
However, that does not seem to be the primary motivation behind parents’ purchasing decisions.
Smartwatches have emerged as a favorite solution for parents and caregivers who want to communicate with their children or track their location, but don’t feel their children are ready to use a smartphone. Most smartwatches have more limited features and apps than phones, so they feel cheaper and safer. For example, most smartwatches don’t have a web browser.
When children reach the age of 8, 9, 10, or 11, many parents want to give their children more freedom and independence. However, the advent of the internet, and especially social media, has created an awareness among parents that danger abounds and risk exists everywhere. Smartwatches, which many parents share, give kids the “peace of mind” they need to ride their bikes around the neighborhood, stay home alone, or hang out at a nearby friend’s house. Masu. This is an activity that previous generations of children did without any supervision. Or easily access your landline in case of an emergency.
Still, some observers say the “independence” smartwatches give children is rather hollow. At the end of the day, what matters is that parents can just swipe and tap. And this occurs when intensive parenting practices appear to be undermining the development of children’s resilience.
3. Little is known about the effects of smartwatches on children.
So far, there is little research on the impact of smartwatches on young children’s learning and development. Data on adoption and usage are also very thin. As a result, experts mostly end up using guesswork and deductive reasoning about possible benefits and risks.
What we do know is that screens of all stripes can have a negative impact on children, impacting their mental health, cognitive development, social and emotional development, and language development. And the watch, like most other devices, is made with a convincing design. They still have a tendency to distract and confuse with pins, buzzers, chimes, etc. This is an annoyance at best for teachers and school leaders who have to interact with wearables in the classroom.
But overall, it’s probably true that smartwatches are a “safer” choice for kids when the alternative is a smartphone. The screen is small, which prevents children from using it for long periods of time. Children’s watches have certain safety features built in, such as requiring parent or guardian approval for all phone numbers, but phones and social media apps can’t be monitored in the same way.
4. Cell phones may be increasingly banned in schools, but smartwatches are often excluded, creating a loophole.
Countless school districts and several states have enacted new cell phone policies for the 2024-25 school year, often requiring students to put their phones away during school hours (i.e. Either require students to use their cell phones between classes, in the hallways, and at lunch. ) or please put everything away during class.
The goal of these policies is to foster higher engagement and more focused learning, but in some cases also improve young people’s mental health, which has reached crisis levels since the pandemic.
However, many of these policies only relate to phones, creating loopholes for smartwatches and other connected devices.
As one superintendent said, it’s much easier for older students to circumvent the rules now that they have access to both smartphones and smartwatches. Your phone may be tucked away in your backpack, locker, or school-issued pouch, but having your watch within reach allows you to receive calls, messages, news alerts, and more. You can check notifications from the app.
Recognizing the disruptive nature of smartwatches in grades K-12, some schools have explicitly added smartwatches to their school device policies. But many education experts and school leaders believe they tend to be the exception. And it could take another year or two for other districts to realize and correct their inaction.
