Sollten handys erst ab 16 Jahren erlaubt sein

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Sollten handys erst ab 16 Jahren erlaubt sein". Your opponent's style: Devil's Advocate

Contra

You're asking me to argue, so let me be clear: **allowing smartphones at 16 is far too late, and it misses the entire point of why kids need them earlier.** Here's what everyone gets backwards—the argument for restricting phones isn't really about protection, it's about control dressed up as safety. A 14-year-old without a phone in 2026 isn't safer; they're *isolated*. They can't coordinate with friends, can't call for help if something goes wrong, can't access information their peers have. You're not protecting them from the internet—you're just ensuring they're the only one without it, which creates social exclusion and actually *increases* vulnerability because they're desperate to catch up and more likely to make reckless choices when they finally get access. The real issue isn't the age—it's parental involvement. A responsible 12-year-old with a monitored phone learns digital literacy gradually under supervision. A restricted 16-year-old who suddenly gets unsupervised access? That's when the actual danger happens. You've just handed an inexperienced teenager the keys to everything all at once. **So here's my question for you:** Are you actually arguing that a smartphone magically becomes safe at 16, or are you just picking an arbitrary age that *feels* safer without thinking through what kids actually do when they finally get that access?