How to teach kids to appreciate their smartphones

Kids these days are basically born with a smartphone in hand. And while the influence "smartphone parenting" has on the development of a kid deserves to be examined as well, today we're going to focus on another related topic. We want to propose a way to teach your child about the value of the device it is fortunate enough to use.

If you're a parent you're probably old enough to remember the times before smartphones and maybe at least occasionally think about how amazing the devices we keep in our pockets/purses are and what we're capable of doing thanks to them.

Kids, however, don't know about the struggle that we, as users, went through before we could enjoy big bright displays and high-speed internet in our palms. So, our plan is simple and straightforward: get them to experience the struggle themselves. But don't worry, it shouldn't take 20 years.

The evolution of mobile phones went through several eras, our goal is for you to take your kid through a few of them, hoping that would lead to both better understanding and better appreciation of modern technology.

If you want to follow our advice, you'll need some props first. Chances are, you already have at least some of them: old phones.

Now, there's no need to go back to the time cell phones were as big as bricks, here is our suggested lineup:

1. A phone with buttons and monochrome display
2. A phone with buttons, color display and terrible camera 
3. A phone with small touch screen, terrible camera and slow internet 
4. A smartphone a few years older than the final device, without 4G. 
5. The device you're planning your kid to use