All year, schools have been grappling with how to respond to student cellphone use, which many educators said had become nearly constant among children in upper grades and increasingly disruptive to instruction.
What many schools have not addressed over the same period is the rise of smartwatches among younger children.
A few years ago, smartwatches—high-tech wearable devices that can send and receive calls and text messages, take photos and videos, and share precise location tracking data, among other functions—took off among tweens and early teens. Since then, elementary and secondary school educators have noticed the devices appearing more and more in their classrooms and school buildings.
This summer, as schools got to work rewriting their device policies, often resulting in stricter rules on cell phone use, EdSurge decided to dive deep into the world of smartwatches for kids.
We interviewed parents, teachers, school leaders, smartwatch manufacturers, digital media experts, child development specialists, and child psychologists to understand what's driving this trend among tweens, how it works in practice, and what the potential risks are.
In October, EdSurge published an extensive story on the topic and our friends at WIRED co-edited the story with us. You can also listen to an audio version of the article, as well as a podcast episode explaining the story.
These are the key takeaways from our reports:
1. Smartwatches are becoming a child's first device.
Although smartwatches were launched about a decade ago as a device marketed toward adults, children quickly became interested.
As a result, more companies began releasing watches designed specifically for children. Today, companies like T-Mobile, Verizon, and Garmin advertise smartwatches for children up to 5 years old and describe their target audience as the 8- to 10-year-old range.
Sales data, along with anecdotal observations from educators, indicate that the trend really took off around 2019 and 2020. As of this year, the children's smartwatch market is estimated to be over $1 billion and growing rapidly. .
Because most smartwatches cost around $150, they're a more affordable purchase for families than, say, a smartphone.
Smartwatches for children are more sophisticated now than they were a few years ago. Today, many models include capabilities such as photo and video capture, video calling, access to a full keyboard for texting, voice messages, group chats, and geofencing. A Verizon spokesperson described kids' smartwatches as “true phone replacements on their wrists.”
2. Parental fear may be the main driver of this booming market.
Children like to have their own device. Many people said in interviews that it's natural for children to want access to the same technology as their older siblings, parents and peers.
But that doesn't seem to be the key motivator behind parents' purchasing decisions.
Smartwatches have become a favorite solution for parents and caregivers who want to be able to communicate with their children and/or track their location, but do not feel that their children are ready for a smartphone. It's cheaper and seems more secure, as most smartwatches have more limited features and apps than a phone. Most smartwatches don't have a web browser, for example.
When children turn 8, 9, 10, 11 years old, many parents want to give their children more freedom and independence. But the advent of the Internet (and especially the rise of social media) has created the perception among parents that danger abounds and risks are everywhere. Smartwatches, many parents shared, give them the “peace of mind” needed to let their kids ride their bikes around the neighborhood, stay home alone, or hang out at a close friend's house—activities that previous generations of children performed without any type of supervision. or with easy access to a landline in case of emergency.
Still, some observers say the “independence” that smartwatches allow kids is pretty hollow. After all, the point is that parents are just a tap away. And this comes at a time when intensive parenting practices are apparently undermining the development of resilience in children.
3. Little is known about the impact of smartwatches on children.
Until now, there has been minimal research into the impact of smartwatches on young children's learning and development. Data on adoption and use are also quite scarce. As a result, experts are forced to use guesswork and deductive reasoning about possible benefits and risks.
What we do know is that screens of all types can have harmful effects on children, affecting their mental health, cognitive development, social and emotional development, and language development. And watches, like most other devices, are made with a persuasive design. They still have the same tendencies to distract and interrupt, with their pings, buzzes and chimes. This is, at best, a nuisance for teachers and school leaders who have to use portable devices in the classroom.
But overall, it's probably true that smartwatches would be a “safer” option for kids if the alternative were a smartphone. The screen is small enough to discourage children from using it for long periods. There are certain safety features built into kids' watches, such as requiring approval of all phone numbers by a parent or guardian, that cannot be monitored in the same way on phones or social media apps.
4. Mobile phone bans may be increasing in schools, but smartwatches are often left out, creating a loophole.
Countless school districts and several states have enacted new cell phone policies for the 2024-25 school year, often requiring students' phones to be put away during instructional time (meaning they could use them between classes, in hallways and during lunch). ) or that they are kept during all school hours.
The aim of these policies is to promote greater participation and more focused learning but also, in some cases, improve the mental health of young people, which has reached critical levels since the pandemic.
However, many of these policies refer only to phones, creating a loophole for smartwatches and other connected devices.
For older students, who, as one superintendent shared, increasingly have access to both a smartphone and a smartwatch, it's pretty easy to get around the rules. Their phones may be locked away in backpacks, lockers, or school bags, but if their watch is within reach, they can still receive calls and messages, receive news alerts, and check notifications from other apps.
There are some schools, from elementary to high school, that have recognized the disruptive nature of smartwatches and have explicitly added them to their school device policies. But they tend to be the exception, many education experts and school leaders believe. And it could be another year or two before other districts realize their omission and remedy it.
