Senior Pastor of EverTrue Church, Ps Ernest Asiedu Alao-Caesar, has urged parents to delay giving children personal smartphones until they are 18 or have completed Senior High School, warning that unrestricted internet access may expose young people to risks that outweigh the convenience of owning such devices.
He made the appeal on Sunday during the church’s Future Leaders Boot Camp in Accra, where he argued that although smartphones can support communication, research and learning, these benefits can often be achieved through safer alternatives such as basic mobile phones, supervised computers and controlled internet access.
“A smartphone is not merely a telephone,” Ps Alao-Caesar said. “When you give a child unrestricted access to a smartphone, you potentially open your home to millions of people, ideas, images and influences you do not know and cannot always control.”
He cited pornography, sexually explicit material, cyberbullying, online grooming, sextortion, scams, gambling, violent content and harmful social-media communities among the risks confronting children online.
Ps Alao-Caesar further warned that many parents may have little idea of what their seemingly innocent children are doing on platforms such as Snapchat, WhatsApp groups, Telegram and other private online spaces.
“Many parents do not have the slightest idea what their innocent children are doing on Snapchat, WhatsApp groups, Telegram and other platforms,” he said. “They may know their children physically, but they often do not know the conversations they are involved in, the content they are viewing, the groups they have joined or the people influencing them online.”
“The painful part is that some adults are taking advantage of children’s access to smartphones and social media to groom them for their own sexual gratification,” he said. “They build trust, initiate private conversations, gradually break down boundaries and, in some cases, manipulate children into inappropriate relationships or the sharing of intimate material.”
He said the private nature of many messaging platforms makes parental supervision increasingly difficult, particularly where children use disappearing messages, secret groups, private chats or accounts that parents do not know about.
“A child may appear quiet, disciplined and completely safe at home, yet be participating in conversations and online communities that the parents would never approve of,” he said. “That is why parents must not confuse physical presence at home with digital safety.”
Ps Alao-Caesar also raised concerns about the effect of excessive smartphone use on academic performance, concentration, sleep and family relationships.
“Homework now competes with TikTok, reading competes with YouTube, sleep competes with WhatsApp conversations, and family interaction competes with social media,” he said.
He recommended that, where communication is necessary, parents provide basic phones, while children who need internet access for schoolwork should use supervised family devices.
He further cautioned parents against yielding to pressure simply because their children say their classmates already own smartphones.
“Parenting cannot be determined by peer pressure,” he said. “A parent’s responsibility is not to make sure a child possesses everything his or her friends possess. It is to protect the child’s education, character, safety and future.”
Ps Alao-Caesar stressed that delaying smartphone ownership should not be interpreted as denying children access to technology, but as introducing digital freedom when they are better prepared to manage its responsibilities.
“There is a difference between teaching your child how to use technology and surrendering your child to technology,” he said.
He called for broader discussion among parents, schools, churches, policymakers and child-development professionals on children’s access to smartphones and social media.
His message to parents, he said, is straightforward: “Do not be afraid to delay the smartphone. A smartphone can always be bought later. Childhood cannot be recovered once it is lost.”
