When I first arrived to Rocklin, I headed straight to the Galleria mall. I went there so that I could get a relative look on what teenagers here looked like. Right when I entered the building, I was shocked.

All I saw were people holding their phones, fiddling with their screens, instead of actually holding a conversation with who they were with. What I was really most surprised about was that it wasn’t just the adults, or even the teens. It was also the children that were texting on their smartphones.

Now living in Rocklin for almost a year, things still haven’t changed. According to a study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Centre, it shows that two thirds of children aged from four to seven have already used an iPhone.

That definitely surprises me, because when I was a kid, the only phone I had when I was really young was the toy phone that made sounds when you pressed buttons.

I firmly believe that children should not have phones at their age, because the internet is a dangerous place to be in.

On the internet, it isn’t as safe as it was when I was a kid. Before, there were games that had pop-up scary faces if you lost, but nowadays, social sites are showing so many things that isn’t appropriate to children that are so young.

BY KENNETH VILLORENTE