An iPhone that has been abused by a teenager. (Keith Johnson/The Salt Lake Tribune)

If you are a parent who loves gadgets then you know a special kind of pain - the agony of a child breaking electronics.

A friend of mine understands that trauma all too well. In just the last two years, his son dropped his iPod touch in the toilet, and his daughter threw another iPod touch at his son, which cracked the screen. He had the screen replaced, and then the kids broke it again. The children also have lost one iPod Shuffle, and a second iPod Shuffle was in his son's pants pocket when it went through the wash.

Needless to say, my friend is giving his kids coloring books from now on.

The reason I bring this up is because there is a new study that proves kids and electronics don't mix (as if you didn't know that already). Now there's hard evidence you can show your children the next time they're whining for an iPhone.

Parents have spent about $2.8 billion on repairing or replacing personal electronics, according to a study commissioned by SquareTrade, which provides protection plans for gadgets. Of those surveyed, 50 percent of parents said their children have damaged a device at least once.

In the old days, it used to be that parents would debate whether they should fork over $30 for a Tickle Me Elmo. Today, kids now want the latest $500 iPad or $350 iPad mini or even a $200 Kindle Fire. Parents also don't mind handing over their $200 iPhone to their drooling toddler during church. Think about it — you're trusting a valuable object in your child's hands.


According to the study, 85 percent of American children have their own mobile device, and on average they each use it 3.2 hours a day. Teens ages 13 to 17 years use their devices the most, an average of 4.9 hours per day.

Of those kids who have damaged their electronics, 33 percent of them spilled food or drink. And the study showed that boys were 35 percent more likely to cause an accident with their device than girls.

Not that girls know how to be more responsible with a $200 high-tech device. My oldest daughter broke my iPhone while running. She also dropped my iPad on the floor and put a nice dent in it, and she's had another iPhone stolen from her school locker when she wasn't supposed to bring it to school in the first place.

Obviously, the best course of action here is to regain some modicum of common sense and just not give your kids any mobile devices. But apparently there is some well-worn social convention that says parents must love their children or something to that effect, so denying them the pleasure of an expensive and breakable piece of electronics apparently is not an option.

Along with information from the survey, SquareTrade also includes some common-sense tips to help lower the chances of a kid-related accident with a mobile device.

'¢ Always keep your devices in a protective case. I always encourage new buyers to at least get a protective film on the screen to prevent scratches. Meanwhile, a local company, HzO, is developing a chemical sealant process for portable electronics that will protect it from water. It is expected to be used in some consumer products later this year.

'¢ Never take your device to the bathroom. I know there is an irresistible urge to watch something on Netflix while letting nature take its course, but the odds that the device can fall in the toilet or get water splashed on it from the faucet are much too great. My wife likes to run Pandora on her phone while taking a shower, and I'm just waiting for all of that humidity to seep into the phone's electronics and shut it down.

'¢ Make a rule that the kids can't use their electronics while eating or drinking.

'¢ If your children takes their device to school, make sure they don't put it in a full backpack where it can be crushed by heavy books.

'¢ SquareTrade offers this option because, frankly, it's why the company issued a press release about the study: They recommend parents also get a protection plan when they purchase their device. That may not be a bad idea if you think that the person who uses it will not be very responsible with it. If you purchase an Apple product, look into the company Apple Care plans, which can cover screen breakage and water damage. I always recommend people buy their electronics at Costco if possible because the retailer has an excellent no-questions-asked policy for the first 90 days.

'¢ This last tip is my own: Kids are very expensive — you should consider that when having sex.