If your 10-year-old (or younger) has a smartphone, you are an incredible idiot and a terrible parent.

I didn't think this was an unpopular opinion until I saw a statistic that by age 10 around 42% of children in the US have a smartphone.

https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2018/10/children-and-cell-phones

Further googling shows that around 1/5 of children EIGHT and under have a smartphone.

Do these parents hate their children? Do they actively want what's worst for them? We can all feel the negative effects of being constantly plugged into screens and the internet in our adult lives. I've had myriad conversations with my mid-30s peers longing for the days when the internet was something you had to sit down at your computer to engage with - when it wasn't so easy to be addicted to doomscrolling.

I'm sure there are harm reduction measures in giving a teenager a phone such as filters and parental controls to keep the worst of it from filtering through, but at 42% I'm certain a great many of these (millions at this point) are just getting wide open access to all that the internet has to offer as 10 year olds and younger.

The evidence of the harm from excessive screen time and the boundless opportunities for harmful interactions and content that come with giving a child unfettered access to the internet is so manifest that giving that to them is malice on a level with buying them a back of smokes.

You've lost your mind or you never had one to begin with if you give a 10 year old a smartphone.