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When to Give a Child a Phone and Why Some Families Use Landlines — Level A1 — Portrait of a nonbinary autistic person using their mobile phone indoors

When to Give a Child a Phone and Why Some Families Use LandlinesCEFR A1

15 Dec 2025

Adapted from Margaret Ashburn-Virginia Tech, Futurity CC BY 4.0

Photo by Hiki App, Unsplash

Level A1 – Beginner
2 min
70 words
  • Many parents ask when to give a phone.
  • Children grow and make more friends.
  • They join after-school activities with others.
  • Experts often say middle school is right.
  • Some families choose a home landline instead.
  • Landlines do not have apps or social media.
  • Shared phones help family conversations at home.
  • Put phones outside bedrooms at night.
  • Monitoring is harder with modern personal phones.
  • Talk with children and set clear rules.

Difficult words

  • landlineTelephone fixed in a home, not mobile
  • social mediaWebsites and apps for talking and sharing
  • monitoringWatching what someone does to keep safe
  • middle schoolSchool for older children before high school
  • after-school activitiesClubs or sports for children after school
  • conversationA talk between two or more people
    conversations

Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.

Discussion questions

  • Would you give a child a phone in middle school? Why or why not?
  • Do you prefer a shared phone at home or personal phones?
  • Do you put your phone outside your bedroom at night?

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