Technology · Two-part direct question · Band 7
What Age Should Kids Get a Smartphone?
The question, a model answer written to the band 7 descriptors, why it scores that band against the 4 official criteria, topic vocabulary, and a common mistake to avoid.
Two-part direct question
At what age, if any, should children be allowed to own a smartphone, and who should be responsible for deciding this: parents or the government? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
Model answer (band 7)
Written to the band 7 descriptors, not by a real examiner. Read it for structure and language, then write your own in your own words. Examiners can tell a memorised essay from an original one.
Smartphone ownership among children has become a genuinely difficult parenting decision, and I believe there is no fixed ideal age, though waiting until at least the early teenage years is generally advisable, with the final decision resting primarily with parents rather than the state.
The case against very early ownership, say before age eleven or twelve, rests on developmental readiness. Younger children typically lack the self-regulation to manage screen time independently and are more vulnerable to inappropriate content or online contact from strangers, risks that outweigh the modest convenience of being contactable at all times. By early adolescence, however, most children have developed enough judgement to use a phone responsibly if given clear guidance, and the social cost of exclusion, being the only child without a phone in a friend group that coordinates everything digitally, becomes genuinely significant and worth weighing against the risks.
As for who should decide, I believe this is fundamentally a parental responsibility rather than one for government regulation. Families differ enormously in their children's maturity, local safety concerns, and need for contact, for example a child who travels alone to school has a different risk profile than one who does not, and a blanket legal age would ignore this variation. That said, government does have a legitimate role in requiring phone manufacturers and app developers to build stronger default safeguards, such as automatic content filters for under-16 accounts, which support parental decisions rather than replace them.
In summary, there is no single correct age, but early adolescence combined with active parental guidance, supported by better default safeguards from technology companies, offers the most sensible balance between risk and social need.
Why this answer scores band 7
Mapped to the 4 official IELTS Writing criteria.
- Task Response: both parts of the question (the age, and who decides) receive clear, separately developed answers with specific reasoning for each.
- Coherence and Cohesion: the essay is visibly structured around the two question parts, with a 'that said' pivot that nuances the second answer without contradicting it.
- Lexical Resource: precise phrases ('developmental readiness', 'social cost of exclusion', 'default safeguards') reflect genuine topic command.
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: long, accurately controlled sentences with embedded clauses demonstrate range without sacrificing clarity.
Useful vocabulary & collocations
Phrases used in the model answer that lift Lexical Resource naturally.
Common mistake on this type of question
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