Parents turn to smartwatches to keep kids' screen time under control

These devices can restrict app downloads and allow calls from only approved contacts

- Osmond Chia

Ms Shirley Ng's eldest daughter received her first mobile phone when she turned nine, but her second daughter, Alysandra, now the same age, is not getting the same privilege.

Instead, she was given a children's smartwatch, allowing her parents to track her whereabouts and exchange quick messages via its built-in Sim card without the need for a phone.

Unlike with a smartphone, Ms Ng, 45, can set aside worries about addictive and harmful online content Alysandra might be exposed to, since features on the watch are limited.

"When we gave Alysandra a smartwatch, of course she asked how come her sister could get a phone at her age," said Ms Ng, an administrative executive. "But we want to keep her screen time under control. There are fewer addictive activities on a smartwatch."

Spooked by smartphones and their impact on young people, more parents are picking smartwatches to communicate with their young children while delaying the introduction of smartphones.

Children's smartwatches are a stripped-down version of a typical smartwatch, and they allow parents to restrict app downloads, usage and calls from an approved list of contacts.

Such smartwatches were the only segment of smartwatches that grew in 2024 even as the global overall smartwatch shipment shrank for the first time by 5 per cent to 154 million units in 2024, vice-president of devices research Bryan Ma from International Data Corporation (IDC) told The Straits Times.

Likewise, overall smartwatch shipments to Singapore fell for the first time by 13 per cent to some 600,000 units in 2024, said Mr Ma.