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Start with a minimalist or dumb phone at age 10 to 12, then move to a full smartphone between ages 12 and 15.

Wait until 15 years old at a minimum for social media for neurodivergent kids.

Recognize that online platforms can offer social connection and communication for many neurodivergent youth.

Neurodivergent children require active, direct supervision rather than passive restriction or simple delays.

In the United States, 90 percent of kids have a smartphone by the age of 13. Perhaps even more remarkable, 42 percent of them have one by the age of 10. If you don’t like the idea of your 10-year-old having a smartphone that can access anything in the world, you’re not alone. And I’m willing to bet (something that your 10-year-old can do on their phone) that if your 10-year-old doesn’t have a cell phone, they’ve asked you for it repeatedly.

I’ll start with the cell phone because it’s the gateway to most of the other things on the internet. That little magical computer places more computing power in a kid's hand than the astronauts had when they first went to the moon in 1969, and it has only grown more powerful with the arrival of AI chatbots. A decade ago, only about 20 percent of 10-year-olds had smartphones, so their access to other technologies and apps was far less than it is today.

Kids are growing up in a digital world, and virtually nothing that we do can prevent them from interacting with technology. My two grandsons, not even 18 months old and growing up in homes where their parents have........

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