How Young is Too Young?

It seems like kids are getting phones at a younger age every year. How young is too young?

I should start this post off with a disclaimer. I am not a parent. I know it ruffles feathers when people who don't have kids give their opinions on parenting. Rather than give you a direct opinion I am just going to ask a lot of questions. If I indirectly give my opinion, well please be nice.

Kids with cell phones has been something on my mind since this weekend. As I was walking past the girl's section of the store a shirt caught my eye. The shirt said "My Phone Battery Moods." Under that listed percentages, 100%, 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%, 10%, and 0%. Next to each of them was an emoji starting with the heart eyed emoji and progressing down to an emoji mouth agape and x's for eyes.

I was with my younger brother, who admittedly got a phone at a younger age than I had, and he made a joke how kids today get phones right at birth. While this was a drastic over dramatization, it's not exactly unlikely.

When I was a kid, I didn't have all of the latest technology. Not because there wasn't any, but my mom didn't allow it. While all the other kids were getting Game Boys and PlayStations, I was getting Barbies and a Casey Cartwheel. I didn't think I was missing out. I loved playing with my dolls and playing with Hot Wheels with my brothers. If the weather was nice out we played outside until dinner. Even lunch was served outside.

Now, kids stay indoors all day long in their rooms watching TV on their huge flat screen TVs, while at the same time texting on their brand new iPhone 7s and playing a game on their iPads. I have to admit I am a multi-screener myself, however I'm not 8 years old.

I remember the day my grandma bought my brothers and me Game Boy colors. I was much older than most kids were when they got their first game system.  This was a big deal in my household. We played them mostly on car rides and very rarely at home.

Now, if you are 10 and don't have a cell phone you are not cool. Are we negatively effecting the younger generation with sensory overload? Has technology become the babysitter? Of course there are numerous articles diving into the psychological effects modern technology has on kids. Check out this one here. This one is good too.

So I want to know, how young is too young for kids to get phones/tablets/TVs? Is it a case by case scenario or is there an age that is just too young?