A grandmother has been criticized for buying her three-year-old granddaughter a highly controversial gift for her birthday.
Mom Dakota, 24, showed off her little girl's new phone to her TiKTok followers, but received a lot of criticism in the comments.
The video, under her handle @koat_123has been seen by more than 2.3 million people.
In the video, she wrote on the screen: “My toddler got a phone for her 3rd birthday” and held up a small device in a pink unicorn case.
She told viewers: “So this is the phone my mother gave my three-year-old. Sure, it's not really a phone, but it has everything a toddler would try to do on your phone.”
A grandmother has been criticized for buying her three-year-old granddaughter a phone for her birthday
She explained, “So it takes pictures, it takes videos, it takes voice recordings, it has games on it, you can put different music on it.
'You can connect it to your laptop and put music on there for them. As soon as I posted it on Instagram, there were so many messages saying, where did this come from? What is this?'
In the TikTok, she shows herself unlocking the small phone, revealing the apps: camera, photos, video, player, music, recorder, calculator, calendar, alarm and more.
The device seems to offer everything a standard phone offers, minus the ability to text, call or use the internet.
The 24-year-old said: 'It's honestly the best thing I've ever seen.'
She adds, “There were a few different brands and a few different cases you could get for the phone.”
The mother holds up the box that says 'TinyCam Kids Smartphone' – it has a recommended age of 3+.
It's available from a brand called Lenudar and costs £36.99 on Amazon Prime – another brand called Dhapy is also offering their version of a kid-friendly device for £26.85.
Mother Dakota told her followers on TikTok that even though it looked like a phone, it couldn't make calls and didn't have internet access
Dakota said, “You can also plug in headphones and stuff like that – it just needs to be charged.
“You can change the background and stuff like that, and she can set timers and alarms, so it's so cute.”
'And of course this isn't an advertisement, I didn't even get this for my daughter, my mother did.
“But because she loves it so much, I know there are so many other toddlers who will love it too, so I thought I'd share.”
However, viewers weren't too impressed with the gift and quickly gave their own opinions.
One user wrote: 'Why would a child ever need this' – the comment has racked up more than 5,000 likes.
They later added: 'Sad, I got my first electronics at the age of 12 and I'm so glad I did, that's why I went outside every day. kids these days are so obsessed with phones and iPads.
Others said; 'So… it's a phone then' and 'I got my first phone when I was 11 and it was a Nokia brick… what happened'.
Another said: 'I got my first phone when I was 13 and had the best screen-free childhood.'
However, others defended the grandmother and mother, writing: “People are mad about this, as if our parents don't buy us robot pets and iPods in the 2000s.”
Ofcom research earlier this year found that a fifth of three and four year olds have their own mobile device (stock image)
Someone else admitted: 'My three year old has my old iPhone 7', to which another viewer replied 'that's so sad'.
Another said: 'It's cute but if there's no YouTube my kid will ruin it lol'.
Dakota replied: 'She has a tablet for that, this is more because she likes to take pictures of everything'.
However, this isn't the only little one longing for a phone: Ofcom research earlier this year found that a fifth of three and four year olds have their own mobile device.
They use them to access social media, play online games and watch streaming services.
The research also found that 61 percent (almost two-thirds) of British children own a smartphone by the age of 10.
In January, the education watchdog suggested that children should not have unlimited internet access or smartphones at a young age.
The pandemic has also caused average screen time to increase by 50 percent for children aged three to 18 – with an average of four hours a day now spent on gadgets.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live about access to explicit content online, Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said: 'I don't feel comfortable with younger children having unrestricted internet access.
'I am very surprised when children of primary school age, for example, have a smartphone, and even in secondary school. It's very difficult to achieve that.'
Ms Spielman also suggested that the role of parents and schools is to 'ensure that children can avoid all these unwanted influences'.