My 14-year-old niece from the UK recently visited Namibia. She told my 11-year-old son: "Here you still have real stuff to see on your phone. In the UK, we mostly watch adverts between YouTube videos." That comment stayed with me. It wasn't really about adverts. It was about how much of children's attention has become a product. Large parts of the online world are designed to keep young people scrolling, clicking and watching for as long as possible.
The debate about banning smartphones for under-16s is not really about technology itself. It's about asking whether children are developmentally ready to navigate systems specifically designed by some of the world's smartest companies to capture their attention.
We don't let children drive cars, buy alcohol or gamble because we recognise that maturity matters. The same question should be asked of unrestricted smartphone and social media access.
Namibia still offers children opportunities to be connected to the real world around them—nature, community, adventure and face-to-face interaction. Before we hand every child a device that competes with all of that, we should carefully consider whether waiting until 16 is a reasonable safeguard rather than a restriction.
The issue is not whether phones are useful. They clearly are. The issue is whether childhood should be dominated by screens before young people have developed the judgement to manage them responsibly.
