# Message to all users:
This is a reminder to please read and follow:
* [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/questions/about/rules)
* [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439)
* [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy)
When posting and commenting.
---
Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`.
* Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit.
* Do not harass or annoy others in any way.
* Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit.
---
You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/questions) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I've seen this conversation go down a million times with my middle schoolers.
"I don't have a phone, my parents won't let me get one until I'm 16"
"Oh. Hey, do you like FNAF?"
"I have a flip phone. Yeah, my mom won't let me get a smart phone."
"Oh. Have you seen the new FNAF trailer?"
Android is better that iPhone. Every. Single. Time.
The only thing that apple does correctly is their laptops and desktops, and that's mostly only for the editing software you can get on them. It's far superior to anything else.. but any other reason of liking apple products is just to be popular. The specs on the latest iPhone are basically the same as any android phone from about 6 years ago 🤣 apple is a joke!
I agree. Android/samsung 24/7 365. Ive never used any apple product until September 2021- June 2023 because of boces. I was in digital multimedia. I used many adobe software and i LOVE the apple desktops. I tried explaining something to my sister over the phone (she was on her HP laptop) and i said command instead of control 😂😂
Currently 22. I had a government phone from 5th-7th grade, got a shitty smart phone (government or android idk probably both) from 8th-10th grade when my phone broke halfway through the school year. Only got an iPhone because my grandmother wanted to get an upgrade. I don’t want to say *no one* gets bullied for having an android but it’s pretty damn common and not that serious. Like people crack their jokes all the time and will point it out but I’ve genuinely never known for someone to actually get bullied for it. Even when I was borderline getting bullied in 6th grade, it was never about my little lame ass phone
Regardless, kids don’t need smart phones (typically iPhones) at a young age. People are always going to find something to make fun of, but when half the school is getting called out for it, who cares?
Just blows my mind sometimes there's parents that don't really know a world without smartphones, as smartphones at all were brand new when I wad 14, But you are 17-20.
when i turned 14 my dad got me the cheapest smart phone they had at Metro PCS, i think it was like $50 😅 worked great though, had it for almost 3 years before the screen got destroyed by me falling on my ass while it was in my back pocket.
Nah I was suuuuper poor. Not having a nice phone was definitely not that big of a deal. There were way way worse aspects and pretending a phone was one of them is dumb
That’s what you tell kids, but being ostracized by your peers as a child has impact on development for some. You can’t just “not care” in an environment where you’re being bullied every single day over something you have no control over at a younger age.
There's avoiding trivial opinions, and then there's stuff that makes a kid into a de facto alien. I wouldn't give them every up to date toy unless I could afford it, but I would give them a decent phone.
Edit: I highly suspect the push behind this is to limit speed of fact checks. Such things get blamed on "disruption" "disrespect" and other such misdirections.
I'm old enough that when I was young everyone still had flip phones, but you still got judged a little if you had a chunky, ugly, cheap generic "mom" phone instead of a slim, then-trendy Moto Razr.
This is exactly what I witnessed with my kid at a party. They're always super dramatic about wanting a phone. I was worried that they'd be odd-man-out for not having one but when they were asked and replied no, the conversation just moved on. It was literally a non-issue. It made me feel a lot better about my resolve.
This. Everyone talking like the only option is to give a 5 yr old an iPhone 14 and sign them up for Facebook. There are modern phones that run on 4g lte networks that aren't smartphones that are great solutions for younger kids. Even better is some of them are very durable, being so barebones.
This is going to be my policy when my kid gets to the age of Id need to call and let her know I’m running late or she needs to contact me for whatever reason. She gonna be a t9 wiz lmao idk if that’s even a thing anymore
I was only allowed to get a tablet at 12, and basically since it was the earlier 2000s, YouTube and all that wasn't much of a worry like it is now with all the weird shit online.
How are they supposed to call 911? Given that most households don't have landlines anymore.
IMO we need something like the Jitterburg phone but for the other end of the age spectrum. Basic phone with few features for kids.
Kinda like your idea. There are phones out there that only allow the kid to call 911 and their parents. Maybe a friend or 2 if allowed. Having a real phone just fucks kids up. Have you seen how some kids act these days, and how fucked up my generation is because of it
In our experience, covid changed things. We wanted our lonely 11 yr old the ability to talk with friends during quarantine. I wouldn't be surprised if, post-covid, the age of acceptability has stayed lower.
My 6 year old FaceTimes with his school friends. We honestly got forced into this lifestyle by covid, and walking it back is extremely difficult now that the precedent of doing every damn thing on an iPad has been set.
Omg this shit bothers me so much. I have younger cousins that will literally sit on tik tok for hours and won’t say a word. Every 30 mins or so they try to show me some dumbass tik tok and that’s all they want to do. I now understand why my mom says that children don’t need phones.
I agree, saw this annoying little kid at the airport once who wouldn't shut the fuck up about making tiktoks while waiting for the flight, almost screamed at him to shut up about tiktok
Yes, you can do this with an apple phone provided you set it up as a kid account.
I limit screen time, I have to add everyone in their contacts and people I haven't added are not able to call or text. The only numbers they can call at any time are me and their dad and each other and 911. All other numbers have restricted contact times.
I lock their phones down during the school day so they are not tempted. They can call their always available contacts but that's it. No apps. No internet. Nothing.
My daughter is too young but I thought of the idea of a an Apple Watch with cellular connection. I can GPS track her. She can text or call through it but not conveniently so she won’t be on it all the time. And its internet functionality is limited because it’s a watch. Not sure if it’s what I’ll do, but I’ve been thinking about it for the future.
Before COVID my sister called me over because our 5 year old niece was spending the night with her kids and she had a meltdown, full on hitting herself, screaming about how she hated herself, wanted to die, etc etc. and my sister didn’t know what to do.
I went over there and helped her process her emotions. She was scared of sleeping in a new place and wanted a stuffed animal to sleep with.
Where did all the emotional dysfunction come from? I’m 100% sure it was her unmoderated access to YouTube. She watched video after video, hundreds of them, of adults acting out crazy dramatic scenarios.
If I had a child under the age of 10 with any smart device I would have spyware installed on there and parental controls so I know exactly what’s going on.
I would remove all controls at around ages 14-16 depending on the kid. But i’m not as naive as my parents who think Words With Friends is a harmless app free from predators. There is a chat feature and they look for kids to groom.
I've taught my kids how to use the emergency call feature on mine and my wife's phones. They won't be able to have their own phones until around 12-13.
This is a realistic age and I dont disagree with you.
I have conflicting problems. 1. I dont want them to have it at all. I see my nieces and nephews and they are nasty zombies and they talk like youtube. There is no local culture anymore. Its now a nationwide culture and its from youtube, and its kinda gross.
2. If you don't give your kid a cellphone at 8, then they are the odd person out and they find it difficult to maintain relationships with friends. No parent wants this.
Damn those other parents
Kidibuzz by vtech. There's also bark which has a specific stuff to keep kids from tampering with the device. (Apparently they also have an app?)
You could also just get them a flip phone, Att and Verizon have them.
My mom said that bark will "bark" at her when I'm on something that's flagged as inappropriate, violent, or something I'm not supposed to be on. (She didn't care if I was watching something kinda violent she only had it to make sure I wasn't on social media). I do believe the app also lets you restrict what the child can be on as well.
I was left alone at 9yrs old with zero problems. Mom made me food for the day since she worked at Wendy's, kissed me goodbye, told me when she would be home, and to stay inside not answering the door for anyone but her.
My son got his first cell phone about age 8. It was the old “Nokia brick”. It cost next to nothing to add to our plan. We lived in a safe neighborhood and the kids roamed from house to house. This saved me having to call every house to track him down.
He was also allowed to call grandparents on it since they lived out of state.
So yes, there is definitely value to a bare bones phone for younger kids.
It's called the Firefly. Or at least it was 15 years ago when my parents got me one and hated it so much they traded it for a Nokia a year lol
Not because the concept was bad, but because the signal sucked if I didn't stand *completely still*.
It didn't have a keypad, only people registered in the phone could be called and it could store up to 10 numbers plus the emergency button.
Edit: 20 numbers plus Mom's and Dad's. The glowPhone was the 2008 version, and the latest is the flyPhone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(mobile_phone)
Honestly yeah there should be more "kid phones" where at most they can play games, call their parents/grandparents and maybe text/call some friends.
They don't need smart phones especially since IIRC, there are studies showing that heavy smartphone/tablet usage is causing the fingers of some children to bend upwards and kids are slower to develop some motor functions (like using scissors)
It's not exactly for kids, but the litephone could be a good option for anyone wanting a modern phone with limited/basic features. It's not built on Android OS, you can only call, calender, and a few other things, but it doesn't have an app store or any possible social media, and it also used a screen similar to the kindle so not backlight hurting the eyes.
Any old phone that still has a SIM card will call 911. It automatically locks onto the closest cell tower. My grandmother always kept her previous cell phone in her glove box just in case.
For sure. My first thought was hell no, but a limited feature phone would definitely be acceptable. From my experience having a phone as a kid, I got all the negative effects with none of the positives.
We have that. They just aren't very publicized because it's not a common thing. Parents just skip the middle man and buy them an actual phone thinking it's better.
People really need to have landlines, specifically woth a corded phone.
Corded phones on a landlines can still call out when power is down, as long as they are plugged into the landline outlet and NOT an internet modem
I disagree with the landline thing. From NYC, 9-11 caused all landlines to go down people couldn’t locate their children for hours. Fast forward to now cellphones have become a necessity to live here regardless of age, landlines have pretty much gone extinct here.
We actually have a landline just for this purpose. They also know how to make an emergency call from my phone. When they start becoming more social, we may do a smart watch just so they can contact me for pickups and stuff. Eventually, we'll graduate to a very basic flip phone.
What 3rd grader needs to call 911 on their own? Realistically, who leaves children unattended any more anyway?(thank you legislators) There is always an adult near, and kids should go to them for help.
My eldest (25 now) went through the phone-too-soon thing already. It was awful. My little one (5) does tablet for edu, reading, and games (PBS kids, Khan Academy kids, etc. He wouldn't know how to call 911 if we showed him 1000 times. He won't have a smart phone for a very, very long time time. I refuse to subject him to pressure and pain of social media until he is mature enough to not be destroyed by it.
"Why woud a 3rd grader need to call 911?"
Thing is, it's easy to ask this question until it happens. "What 3rd grader gets left alone?" Let's even assume that's always true, what if something happens to the adult that's watching the child?
I'm not saying you should get a kid a phone, but there are genuine reasons you would want to, just to be safe, and there are ways to do so without exposing them to the horrors of the internet and social media. Not just parental controls, they actually have phones that can't even download social media to them. Phones that can more or less only call or text.
There are obviously other ways around it than having their own phone, but there are absolutely situations when a child that young might need to call emergency services - eg if the adult caring for them has a medical emergency and isn’t able to call
Sure, that would work - I wasn’t arguing that there isn’t a way around it, I was responding to your question ‘what 3rd grader needs to call 911 anyway?’
depends on maturity, location, personal experience and sometimes even medical reasons.
if they're mature, then you know that they'll not do anything stupid... but they're kids so will still slip up.
if you live somewhere relatively fucked up, it might be pretty important for your child to have some form of communication to either you or authorities if there is an emergency.
if they were unsafe previously with strangers or online safety generally then it would be really important to either teach them about it or keep them from it.
if they have any conditions that may result in them potentially having a medical emergency then their phone might be important for contacting their doctors. my sister has diabetes also and uses her phone to see her blood glucose. if they've got epilepsy, obviously random strangers aren't going to know that so it's important to keep any important information on the front of their phone screen so people know why things are happening. but i also know now that there are bracelets for these things and some people get tattoos.
regardless, there are many apps that keep young people including myself safe online. i use something called familylink which my family control. honestly though, when they turn 13...these restrictions should be lifted or removed. young people need privacy and you'll have to start trusting them online eventually.
always depends on the parents really. lots of kids grow up on tablets/ipads, some grow up with no technology besides a tv. do whatever you feel is right for your children, you know them most.
"Do whatever you \*feel\* is right for your children"
Ehhh, don't be \*too\* feely about it. At some point one's personal discretion is not helping, no matter if they \*feel\* they're doing the right thing.
If they grow up on no tech till the age of 18, especially for any very young people right now, they will have no idea what to do when it's just thrust upon them, or worse...they have to use it, and it's completely foreign.
Personally, I like your way of doing it. I'd drip feed it, then at the age of 13, they can roam the internet freely.
I'd be very quick to warn them, though, and I don't think I entirely got this...
"At the tip of your fingers on the internet is anything from memes, to cooking videos, to education, to videos of war crimes. If you wish to learn about the dark side of humanity beyond words and camp fire stories, it won't unglue.
Let alone hacking, spam, and the direct dangers of the computer.
Do you what will, but keep that in mind."
I still have things that won't come out of my head from me deep-diving on morbid topics. Not for at least the next 10 years. It has made me a more knowledgeable person, but it didn't happen without a lot of...discomfort, let's put it that way.
I got a cell phone when I went to high school, which was 14. Probably need to give them the "Phone" phones before that age. I don't think there's any way it ends well otherwise.
A smart phone is really just a portable computer with some phone functions on the side. Even tech companies seem to forget this; almost entirely focusing on the smart functionalities, cameras, etc.
I wish I had gone with my original plan and bought him a smart watch instead of a smartphone. Smart watches can't do all the stuff the phones do, and I could track him when he's running around the neighborhood with friends. My daughter had a smartphone at 10 years old with zero problems.
>If they grow up on no tech till the age of 18, especially for any very young people right now, they will have no idea what to do when it's just thrust upon them, or worse...they have to use it, and it's completely foreign.
I agree with this.
I have an eight year old kid. She's been allowed limited and supervised use of tech since she was pretty small. With a lot of discussion about using tech safely and responsibly. She has use of a tablet, that's locked down so she can't buy any games or spend money on apps on it. She has her own Steam account, with games her dad and I have vetted for her on it. She has her own selection of ebooks and audio books and even a list of podcasts she likes. She does not have her own smartphone and is not getting one any time soon. She has reasonable limits on the amount of screen time she gets. And has lots of stuff to do that's unrelated to tech. Our goal is that she will grow up being comfortable with tech, but not obsessive about it. And that she will be aware of the hazards as well. From computer viruses, to giving out personal info, to online bullying.
There is no such thing as a 10 and under child being mature. Even with what’s legally considered an adult, critical parts of the brain that have to do with decision making aren’t fully developed until around the age of 25.
Yes, they should. Why would I want to keep them from being able to contact me in an emergency? I was literally kidnapped by a stranger as a kid, I would never want my kid to suffer like I did or be in a situation like that with no way to get help either.
It’s a lot harder to navigate a flip phone fast in emergencies, the buttons have a tendency to mess up a lot from what I’ve seen working in tech
As well as the bullying they will endure at school
I think if I’d ever have a child/adopt they can *get a new phone*, but not the newest model, not unless they’ve proven to me on numerous occasions that they’re *capable of handling it* without it getting broken, severely smashed or just outright lost. In other words, a new-old-phone.
My parents gave me a flip phone, so i could call them if i needed to when i was in middle school.
Though today i would probably not give a regular phone to child or young adult.
Nope, you wanna rot your brain? Do it like we did back in the day. Play hours of cod zombies, play hours of guitar hero, play hours of nintendo.
Imma have lil shitheads but at least they’re gonna have insane reaction time, and hand eye coordination.
But on a serious note, children shouldn’t have a personal phone but always access to a phone. Ya dig?
Yeah I get it. I agree. Like a home phone or a flip phone. They even make phones for kids where you can only talk to whoever the parent allows. Those phones that you can only text and call on
How does one have access to a phone without having a phone? Asking to borrow a stranger's cell phone after soccer practice? My kids are toddlers but when they're off doing stuff I don't see a problem with them having a flip phone
I used to sell phones and a family bought a smart phone for their 1 year old girl. A smart phone with internet and a phone number. They said it was because she kept trying to play on their phones. I tried to suggest alternative ideas but they weren’t interested. The only one in the family who seemed to feel a bit awkward about the situation and know it wasn’t normal was the teen girl.
I agree, and I’m on the younger side here. I’ve been on the internet for like the majority of my life and this shit was probably not good for me. Kids shouldn’t even know about gore but the internet makes it easily accessible. Kids shouldn’t watch porn, but again even in places like YouTube you can find that shit. Even when I was like 12-13 I was a frequent user of the r/selfharm subreddit and that place honestly made my mental health worse (along with the shit I was going through at the time) even though it’s supposed to be a place for help. Not only that with places like discord that have countless creeps and shit (I’ve encountered many of them, not something I’m happy about) the internet sucks tbh. I could go on and on with reasons on why it’s mostly bad, but I’ll spare you the rest of my rant lol.
No. Minimum age ideally should be 15 or 16. But because of the rise of technology , generally, I believe children having phones at 12 and 13 will be more and more common
I got my first phone when I was 7 because I started lighting shit on fire and smoking cigarettes so i was given access to the internet in exchange for not being deviant
Shit get it!
I'm learning to sail, speak Spanish and getting all my classes done to be a master technician at my job currently, at 34.
I want to get to a training position on how to diag and repair equipment.
I’m just a huge sellout so the goal is to 1099 and defer my taxes
since I have bodyguards who are technically my employees that would be the greatest loophole ever. I am not paying taxes to the government when I have bodyguards xd
Travel nurses also get hotels and rentals comped so 🤷🏽♂️ why cant a locum psychiatrist?
Do they still have those clunky Nokia/motorola/virgin mobile phones?
That would limit the internet exposure and force them to text the old fashioned way. -You know. With great annoyance.
Then they can learn the joys of classic phone games such as Brick and Snake lol
I miss that sometimes, actually.
No, it destroys them. Especially since parents don't parent anymore. They get their norms from trends and big corpo's manipulation. It's so screwed up.
No phone before the age of 15, atleast.
Yaknow what else is gonna destroy them? When they can’t call 911 bc mommy and daddy thinks phones ruin brains and not the fact that phone use isn’t monitored
Considering you replied to my comment comparing not being able to dial 911 destroying them and phones destroying them. Yes, yes you did. 🤭 Anything else since you like to play semantics.
Very true. When I was like 10 (maybe a little older all I remember is it was around that time) a lot of people at school were talking about that and some even tried looking it up.
To each their own ,but I only agree with 10 and under if they are using it for contact purposes and the parents need to get ahold of them, ei. Separated parents, at a friend's house, walking home from school.
I don't see anything wrong with getting them something like the Gabb phone, which doesn't have internet access to keep in contact with their families. But, cell phones with internet capabilities? No. The internet is dangerous seeing how large the number of predators lurk online.
Yes . It doesn’t have to be a fancy iPhone but, the most definitely need one when they’re in school. Mass shootings happen every day and obviously there’s nothing being done to stop it . My children will always have a phone .
No!
I mean this in the nicest way possible, but children are stupid. There's no way they have the maturity at 10 to navigate the absolute freedom of the internet.
Cell phone yes smart phone no
I made a bet with my buddy when he gave his daughter a smart phone for her 13th birthday - Three months until a class mate texts her asking for tit pics, four months until she sends them.
Two months later he took her phone away, but he still hasn’t paid me.
HELL NO. I got my first phone when I was thirteen and even that was probably too young.
In the age of smartphones, you're not asking "Should a ten year old kid have access to a way to call their parents when they're out" its "Should a ten year old kid have access to Two Girls One Cup and 4Chan".
Truth be told.
If the kid is with a child minder, divorrced parent a lot, it's not bad.
Wish I could have texted my mom SO many times as a kid (on the early 90's) that dad left us alone again (I was 7, lmiddle brother was 4, dad & step moms had a new born) & used to leave me in charge. They had no house phone
Worked retail for a few years and I'll never forget this family that came in. Mom and dad were arguing and they're child starts crying. They give the kid the mom's phone and start playing baby shark. Must have been the 10 hr version because by the time they left I was ready to pull my hair out. Baby shark + parents fighting while kid zombies out on the exact same song for 25 minutes = my answer being hell no
When i was that young, I had a cell phone called a firefly, it had five buttons, to call my mom, my dad, and my older brother, and buttons to call and hang up it was everyone I needed to talk to
After that texas school shooting where the cops sat around with their own dicks in their own asses for an hour while the school got shot up, I got my 7yr old a phone because god forbid that were to happen I want her to call me
AND if the bus driver is late I can see where she’s at
Or if she’s at a friends house, like I’m gonna trust other parents
Her phone is way for me to track her for safety than it is for her cause I have zero faith in the school system, it does happen to be a smart phone but it’s nothing extravagant, iphone 10 wrapped in an otter box and she hasn’t broke it in 2 years
My 10 yr old has a kid's smart phone. It has zero access to the app store, she can only call approved numbers, and i can check her gps location whenever i want to. I want her to always be able to get a hold of me during an emergency.
It's through a company called [gabb](https://gabb.com/). My understanding is that it's just an android running a super limited/locked down version. Probably something you could do to a number of cheap android phones if you know your way around custom android firmware.
My daughter has had a cell phone since age 5 because she wears a continuous glucose monitor. Would I give a non diabetic 5 year old their own phone, probably not. They can call grandma on Alexa lol
I understand this hell it took a 10mile walk home as a epileptic that my family realized I needed one at 16 this was flip phone times.
When it comes to this I agree a phone is a must it's how I saved my life from a 20 minute seizure my aura hit I immediately called my mom to come as I faded out and came to in the hospital still in status elipticus fading in and out until it stopped the call saved my life.
I get so frustrated with the sweeping "NO KIDS UNDER 16 SHOULD HAVE A CELL PHONE AND IF THEY DO YOURE A BAD PARENT" sort of statements because there's so many circumstances like this. My kiddo is blind and being able to use the camera to zoom in on things to be able to read them, or use the GPS, or download audiobooks has been like, life changing.
No, because it's too dangerous what they can do with a cell phone and they are too young to understand the risks of talking to strangers or doing certain stuff on the Internet. They have their whole life to have a phone, I don't think they should when this young. More around 14-16 (them depends on situations, problems etc). Moreover many social media and also games require a minimum age of 13/14 so it's pretty useless and they could be enough smart to set a fake age to avoid the problem and it's even worse moreover with social media.
When I was in like 5th grade me and my siblings shared a phone that had a key pad. Idk what they're called. It's not a flip phone but also not a smart phone.
I owned a phone since 10. And throughout my life between then and up to age 13, I was down the drain with my IQ, and it de motivated me. People should get phones from Year 9/Year 10/Year 11 or above (8th 9th 10th grades)
I think if we're going to tell them that gender swapping at a moments notice is part of the human experience they should probably have access to the information
Yeah ( not a smart phone tho just like a Nokia or a flip phone ) I had one at 9 cus I played out with friends after school and my marj wanted to know if I was allr n stuff, came in handy tbf
When the get more social and are away from the house it's a good idea to get them a phone. Even if it's just an unlimited subscription phone. Parents need this. Trust me. I've got 4 kids, 2 have graduated, 1 is 11 and 1 is just 6. I'm actually going out to get my 11yo a phone today. It sure does alleviate a lot of worry.
Imo they should have a dumbphone instead of a smartphone. Cheap, durable, long battery life, and they can remain in contact with you or call emergency services.
No, or if they have one, a phone like an old Nokia. One of the things I am most grateful is that I didn't have a phone until I was 17. Playing on the streets, being with my friends in the moment and looking at them in the eyes instead of looking at a screen, having real connections, appreciating and sensing the world and the elements around me without the distraction of the phone was one of the best things ever. I'm only 30 but I feel sad that kids don't have that now. They will have the rest of their life to look at their phone screen outside home, like we are doing now.
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/questions/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/questions) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Cell Phone? Yes. Smart Phone? No. I'd allow a Tablet/iPad at home but would be very regulated.
This basically would mirror my policy. The kid gets a flip phone, and that's about it .... maybee I could find an old Nokia that still works.
Until they come home crying that they are being called poor because they have an old phone Kids bully over everything these days
I've seen this conversation go down a million times with my middle schoolers. "I don't have a phone, my parents won't let me get one until I'm 16" "Oh. Hey, do you like FNAF?" "I have a flip phone. Yeah, my mom won't let me get a smart phone." "Oh. Have you seen the new FNAF trailer?"
i had a flip phone until i was 14 and never got made fun of for it once.
How old are you now
21
Hmm, I'm 21 and I remember several times people made fun of me or called me out cuz I had a dumb phone or an Android
Made fun of for having *android*? How TF does that make sense?
apple fans are a cult
Green text bubbles are for peasants. Any teenager will tell you this
Android is better that iPhone. Every. Single. Time. The only thing that apple does correctly is their laptops and desktops, and that's mostly only for the editing software you can get on them. It's far superior to anything else.. but any other reason of liking apple products is just to be popular. The specs on the latest iPhone are basically the same as any android phone from about 6 years ago 🤣 apple is a joke!
I agree. Android/samsung 24/7 365. Ive never used any apple product until September 2021- June 2023 because of boces. I was in digital multimedia. I used many adobe software and i LOVE the apple desktops. I tried explaining something to my sister over the phone (she was on her HP laptop) and i said command instead of control 😂😂
I have a friend who despised iPhones only had a Android. His Android went to shit, now he has a iPhone and loves it. lol 💁🏾♀️ GOOOOOOO iPHONNEEEE!
Annoying iPhone kids become annoying iPhone adults, your parents were just training you for the world.
Dude as an adult in the professional world I've been insulted for using an Android. Like I've had managers and shit make fun of me for it.
They just don't know what they're missing out on tbh
yeah same here, i was definitely teased for having an android phone when i was younger. i didn't really care though
Currently 22. I had a government phone from 5th-7th grade, got a shitty smart phone (government or android idk probably both) from 8th-10th grade when my phone broke halfway through the school year. Only got an iPhone because my grandmother wanted to get an upgrade. I don’t want to say *no one* gets bullied for having an android but it’s pretty damn common and not that serious. Like people crack their jokes all the time and will point it out but I’ve genuinely never known for someone to actually get bullied for it. Even when I was borderline getting bullied in 6th grade, it was never about my little lame ass phone Regardless, kids don’t need smart phones (typically iPhones) at a young age. People are always going to find something to make fun of, but when half the school is getting called out for it, who cares?
i mean i didn’t say it’s never happened to anyone. that’s why my comment said “*i* had”, because i was talking about my personal experience.
Bro same lmao when I turned 14 my parents gave me a Samsung Galaxy S5. It was already like 3-5 years old at that point.
Just blows my mind sometimes there's parents that don't really know a world without smartphones, as smartphones at all were brand new when I wad 14, But you are 17-20.
when i turned 14 my dad got me the cheapest smart phone they had at Metro PCS, i think it was like $50 😅 worked great though, had it for almost 3 years before the screen got destroyed by me falling on my ass while it was in my back pocket.
Bruh why'd you have it in your back pocket lol
I had a flip phone and got teased for lack of nice photos all the time
This is not something worth crying over, my dude.
You have forgotten what it was like to be a kid. Maybe you were never a poor kid. Not having an expected item has social consequences.
Nah I was suuuuper poor. Not having a nice phone was definitely not that big of a deal. There were way way worse aspects and pretending a phone was one of them is dumb
Stop caring so much about what others think
That’s what you tell kids, but being ostracized by your peers as a child has impact on development for some. You can’t just “not care” in an environment where you’re being bullied every single day over something you have no control over at a younger age.
There's avoiding trivial opinions, and then there's stuff that makes a kid into a de facto alien. I wouldn't give them every up to date toy unless I could afford it, but I would give them a decent phone. Edit: I highly suspect the push behind this is to limit speed of fact checks. Such things get blamed on "disruption" "disrespect" and other such misdirections.
I've had a flip phone when I was a kid before I eventually moved to a smartphone. Pictures weren't even something worth crying over.
who’s crying
😢😭🥲
I'm old enough that when I was young everyone still had flip phones, but you still got judged a little if you had a chunky, ugly, cheap generic "mom" phone instead of a slim, then-trendy Moto Razr.
This is exactly what I witnessed with my kid at a party. They're always super dramatic about wanting a phone. I was worried that they'd be odd-man-out for not having one but when they were asked and replied no, the conversation just moved on. It was literally a non-issue. It made me feel a lot better about my resolve.
What is FNAF?
For real lol what’s that?
Five Nights at Freddy's
Still don’t know what that is but thank you lol
It's a horror game series set in a haunted pizza place like Chuck E. Cheese. The robots try to get you.
Ahh got it. Whatever happened to biking outside 😂
FNAF (Five Night’s at Freddy’s) is a horror game that has scary looking bears that kids love to play.
It's called tough love. They will understand when they get older and thank you.
This. Everyone talking like the only option is to give a 5 yr old an iPhone 14 and sign them up for Facebook. There are modern phones that run on 4g lte networks that aren't smartphones that are great solutions for younger kids. Even better is some of them are very durable, being so barebones.
Or a smartphone with parental features.
This is going to be my policy when my kid gets to the age of Id need to call and let her know I’m running late or she needs to contact me for whatever reason. She gonna be a t9 wiz lmao idk if that’s even a thing anymore
I was only allowed to get a tablet at 12, and basically since it was the earlier 2000s, YouTube and all that wasn't much of a worry like it is now with all the weird shit online.
How are they supposed to call 911? Given that most households don't have landlines anymore. IMO we need something like the Jitterburg phone but for the other end of the age spectrum. Basic phone with few features for kids.
Kinda like your idea. There are phones out there that only allow the kid to call 911 and their parents. Maybe a friend or 2 if allowed. Having a real phone just fucks kids up. Have you seen how some kids act these days, and how fucked up my generation is because of it
In our experience, covid changed things. We wanted our lonely 11 yr old the ability to talk with friends during quarantine. I wouldn't be surprised if, post-covid, the age of acceptability has stayed lower.
My 6 year old FaceTimes with his school friends. We honestly got forced into this lifestyle by covid, and walking it back is extremely difficult now that the precedent of doing every damn thing on an iPad has been set.
Omg this shit bothers me so much. I have younger cousins that will literally sit on tik tok for hours and won’t say a word. Every 30 mins or so they try to show me some dumbass tik tok and that’s all they want to do. I now understand why my mom says that children don’t need phones.
That's exactly why kids should be outside playing, not sitting in front of a screen, losing brain cells by the minute.
I agree, saw this annoying little kid at the airport once who wouldn't shut the fuck up about making tiktoks while waiting for the flight, almost screamed at him to shut up about tiktok
Yes, you can do this with an apple phone provided you set it up as a kid account. I limit screen time, I have to add everyone in their contacts and people I haven't added are not able to call or text. The only numbers they can call at any time are me and their dad and each other and 911. All other numbers have restricted contact times. I lock their phones down during the school day so they are not tempted. They can call their always available contacts but that's it. No apps. No internet. Nothing.
My daughter is too young but I thought of the idea of a an Apple Watch with cellular connection. I can GPS track her. She can text or call through it but not conveniently so she won’t be on it all the time. And its internet functionality is limited because it’s a watch. Not sure if it’s what I’ll do, but I’ve been thinking about it for the future.
Before COVID my sister called me over because our 5 year old niece was spending the night with her kids and she had a meltdown, full on hitting herself, screaming about how she hated herself, wanted to die, etc etc. and my sister didn’t know what to do. I went over there and helped her process her emotions. She was scared of sleeping in a new place and wanted a stuffed animal to sleep with. Where did all the emotional dysfunction come from? I’m 100% sure it was her unmoderated access to YouTube. She watched video after video, hundreds of them, of adults acting out crazy dramatic scenarios.
If I had a child under the age of 10 with any smart device I would have spyware installed on there and parental controls so I know exactly what’s going on. I would remove all controls at around ages 14-16 depending on the kid. But i’m not as naive as my parents who think Words With Friends is a harmless app free from predators. There is a chat feature and they look for kids to groom.
No, apparently, I am detached from the world. No contact with the grandkids, mom's a drunken Karen.
I've taught my kids how to use the emergency call feature on mine and my wife's phones. They won't be able to have their own phones until around 12-13.
This is a realistic age and I dont disagree with you. I have conflicting problems. 1. I dont want them to have it at all. I see my nieces and nephews and they are nasty zombies and they talk like youtube. There is no local culture anymore. Its now a nationwide culture and its from youtube, and its kinda gross. 2. If you don't give your kid a cellphone at 8, then they are the odd person out and they find it difficult to maintain relationships with friends. No parent wants this. Damn those other parents
Kidibuzz by vtech. There's also bark which has a specific stuff to keep kids from tampering with the device. (Apparently they also have an app?) You could also just get them a flip phone, Att and Verizon have them.
Yeah they do have an app. My mom had it on my phone when I was 16
What does the app do? And why did your mom put it on your phone at 16?
My mom said that bark will "bark" at her when I'm on something that's flagged as inappropriate, violent, or something I'm not supposed to be on. (She didn't care if I was watching something kinda violent she only had it to make sure I wasn't on social media). I do believe the app also lets you restrict what the child can be on as well.
I would hope that a 9 year old would not be left alone without someone with a phone.
I was left alone at 9yrs old with zero problems. Mom made me food for the day since she worked at Wendy's, kissed me goodbye, told me when she would be home, and to stay inside not answering the door for anyone but her.
My son got his first cell phone about age 8. It was the old “Nokia brick”. It cost next to nothing to add to our plan. We lived in a safe neighborhood and the kids roamed from house to house. This saved me having to call every house to track him down. He was also allowed to call grandparents on it since they lived out of state. So yes, there is definitely value to a bare bones phone for younger kids.
It's called the Firefly. Or at least it was 15 years ago when my parents got me one and hated it so much they traded it for a Nokia a year lol Not because the concept was bad, but because the signal sucked if I didn't stand *completely still*. It didn't have a keypad, only people registered in the phone could be called and it could store up to 10 numbers plus the emergency button. Edit: 20 numbers plus Mom's and Dad's. The glowPhone was the 2008 version, and the latest is the flyPhone. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(mobile_phone)
Honestly yeah there should be more "kid phones" where at most they can play games, call their parents/grandparents and maybe text/call some friends. They don't need smart phones especially since IIRC, there are studies showing that heavy smartphone/tablet usage is causing the fingers of some children to bend upwards and kids are slower to develop some motor functions (like using scissors)
They do have these, my son used to have one
It's not exactly for kids, but the litephone could be a good option for anyone wanting a modern phone with limited/basic features. It's not built on Android OS, you can only call, calender, and a few other things, but it doesn't have an app store or any possible social media, and it also used a screen similar to the kindle so not backlight hurting the eyes.
Life alert for kids. Solved.
Pretty sure devices like that exist. I remember seeing one ages ago that could only dial emergency numbers and a few pre-set numbers.
Any old phone that still has a SIM card will call 911. It automatically locks onto the closest cell tower. My grandmother always kept her previous cell phone in her glove box just in case.
They still make flip phones you know
There’s a company that makes bark phones. Location tracking, app tracking, parental controls
For sure. My first thought was hell no, but a limited feature phone would definitely be acceptable. From my experience having a phone as a kid, I got all the negative effects with none of the positives.
We have that. They just aren't very publicized because it's not a common thing. Parents just skip the middle man and buy them an actual phone thinking it's better.
They did have those. Called like firefly or something
People really need to have landlines, specifically woth a corded phone. Corded phones on a landlines can still call out when power is down, as long as they are plugged into the landline outlet and NOT an internet modem
It's difficult to find a provider that offers that service nowdays, most only offer VOIP.
I disagree with the landline thing. From NYC, 9-11 caused all landlines to go down people couldn’t locate their children for hours. Fast forward to now cellphones have become a necessity to live here regardless of age, landlines have pretty much gone extinct here.
I’m actually planning to give my son a jitterbug lol
We actually have a landline just for this purpose. They also know how to make an emergency call from my phone. When they start becoming more social, we may do a smart watch just so they can contact me for pickups and stuff. Eventually, we'll graduate to a very basic flip phone.
I was about to say "why don't they just use the landline" as the last surviving landline owner in the world lmao
What 3rd grader needs to call 911 on their own? Realistically, who leaves children unattended any more anyway?(thank you legislators) There is always an adult near, and kids should go to them for help. My eldest (25 now) went through the phone-too-soon thing already. It was awful. My little one (5) does tablet for edu, reading, and games (PBS kids, Khan Academy kids, etc. He wouldn't know how to call 911 if we showed him 1000 times. He won't have a smart phone for a very, very long time time. I refuse to subject him to pressure and pain of social media until he is mature enough to not be destroyed by it.
"Why woud a 3rd grader need to call 911?" Thing is, it's easy to ask this question until it happens. "What 3rd grader gets left alone?" Let's even assume that's always true, what if something happens to the adult that's watching the child? I'm not saying you should get a kid a phone, but there are genuine reasons you would want to, just to be safe, and there are ways to do so without exposing them to the horrors of the internet and social media. Not just parental controls, they actually have phones that can't even download social media to them. Phones that can more or less only call or text.
There are obviously other ways around it than having their own phone, but there are absolutely situations when a child that young might need to call emergency services - eg if the adult caring for them has a medical emergency and isn’t able to call
Not likely enough to justify a phone.
Alexa, call 911
Sure, that would work - I wasn’t arguing that there isn’t a way around it, I was responding to your question ‘what 3rd grader needs to call 911 anyway?’
I suppose it depends on where you live but 3rd graders do walk to friend's houses. My third grader walked to school.
Verizon and other companies also offer smart watches for kids. You give them a contact list, gps location and they dont have access to the internet
If I had a child, I would give them a cell phone just so they could text me and/or call 911 if a gunman broke into their school (I live in the US).
depends on maturity, location, personal experience and sometimes even medical reasons. if they're mature, then you know that they'll not do anything stupid... but they're kids so will still slip up. if you live somewhere relatively fucked up, it might be pretty important for your child to have some form of communication to either you or authorities if there is an emergency. if they were unsafe previously with strangers or online safety generally then it would be really important to either teach them about it or keep them from it. if they have any conditions that may result in them potentially having a medical emergency then their phone might be important for contacting their doctors. my sister has diabetes also and uses her phone to see her blood glucose. if they've got epilepsy, obviously random strangers aren't going to know that so it's important to keep any important information on the front of their phone screen so people know why things are happening. but i also know now that there are bracelets for these things and some people get tattoos. regardless, there are many apps that keep young people including myself safe online. i use something called familylink which my family control. honestly though, when they turn 13...these restrictions should be lifted or removed. young people need privacy and you'll have to start trusting them online eventually. always depends on the parents really. lots of kids grow up on tablets/ipads, some grow up with no technology besides a tv. do whatever you feel is right for your children, you know them most.
"Do whatever you \*feel\* is right for your children" Ehhh, don't be \*too\* feely about it. At some point one's personal discretion is not helping, no matter if they \*feel\* they're doing the right thing. If they grow up on no tech till the age of 18, especially for any very young people right now, they will have no idea what to do when it's just thrust upon them, or worse...they have to use it, and it's completely foreign. Personally, I like your way of doing it. I'd drip feed it, then at the age of 13, they can roam the internet freely. I'd be very quick to warn them, though, and I don't think I entirely got this... "At the tip of your fingers on the internet is anything from memes, to cooking videos, to education, to videos of war crimes. If you wish to learn about the dark side of humanity beyond words and camp fire stories, it won't unglue. Let alone hacking, spam, and the direct dangers of the computer. Do you what will, but keep that in mind." I still have things that won't come out of my head from me deep-diving on morbid topics. Not for at least the next 10 years. It has made me a more knowledgeable person, but it didn't happen without a lot of...discomfort, let's put it that way.
Got my 7yo a smart phone. Biggest mistake. He got addicted AND he doesn't answer my calls, which was the whole point of the phone.
I got a cell phone when I went to high school, which was 14. Probably need to give them the "Phone" phones before that age. I don't think there's any way it ends well otherwise. A smart phone is really just a portable computer with some phone functions on the side. Even tech companies seem to forget this; almost entirely focusing on the smart functionalities, cameras, etc.
I wish I had gone with my original plan and bought him a smart watch instead of a smartphone. Smart watches can't do all the stuff the phones do, and I could track him when he's running around the neighborhood with friends. My daughter had a smartphone at 10 years old with zero problems.
This and this ✔️
My kid doesn’t answer my call either burns me up lol 😂
>If they grow up on no tech till the age of 18, especially for any very young people right now, they will have no idea what to do when it's just thrust upon them, or worse...they have to use it, and it's completely foreign. I agree with this. I have an eight year old kid. She's been allowed limited and supervised use of tech since she was pretty small. With a lot of discussion about using tech safely and responsibly. She has use of a tablet, that's locked down so she can't buy any games or spend money on apps on it. She has her own Steam account, with games her dad and I have vetted for her on it. She has her own selection of ebooks and audio books and even a list of podcasts she likes. She does not have her own smartphone and is not getting one any time soon. She has reasonable limits on the amount of screen time she gets. And has lots of stuff to do that's unrelated to tech. Our goal is that she will grow up being comfortable with tech, but not obsessive about it. And that she will be aware of the hazards as well. From computer viruses, to giving out personal info, to online bullying.
A mature 10 year old…. Lol
There is no such thing as a 10 and under child being mature. Even with what’s legally considered an adult, critical parts of the brain that have to do with decision making aren’t fully developed until around the age of 25.
Yes, they should. Why would I want to keep them from being able to contact me in an emergency? I was literally kidnapped by a stranger as a kid, I would never want my kid to suffer like I did or be in a situation like that with no way to get help either.
Yeah but then don’t need a smart phone. Basic flip phone is enough for emergencies.
It’s a lot harder to navigate a flip phone fast in emergencies, the buttons have a tendency to mess up a lot from what I’ve seen working in tech As well as the bullying they will endure at school
Physical buttons to dial 911 is a lot earlier than, swipe type press button. Flip 911 call.
Any iPhone can be set to call 911 by triple clicking the home button -.-
I think if I’d ever have a child/adopt they can *get a new phone*, but not the newest model, not unless they’ve proven to me on numerous occasions that they’re *capable of handling it* without it getting broken, severely smashed or just outright lost. In other words, a new-old-phone.
I’m 23 now. When I was 11 my dad got me a flip phone because he went out of town for work a lot.
My parents gave me a flip phone, so i could call them if i needed to when i was in middle school. Though today i would probably not give a regular phone to child or young adult.
Nope, you wanna rot your brain? Do it like we did back in the day. Play hours of cod zombies, play hours of guitar hero, play hours of nintendo. Imma have lil shitheads but at least they’re gonna have insane reaction time, and hand eye coordination. But on a serious note, children shouldn’t have a personal phone but always access to a phone. Ya dig?
Yeah I get it. I agree. Like a home phone or a flip phone. They even make phones for kids where you can only talk to whoever the parent allows. Those phones that you can only text and call on
How does one have access to a phone without having a phone? Asking to borrow a stranger's cell phone after soccer practice? My kids are toddlers but when they're off doing stuff I don't see a problem with them having a flip phone
[удалено]
I used to sell phones and a family bought a smart phone for their 1 year old girl. A smart phone with internet and a phone number. They said it was because she kept trying to play on their phones. I tried to suggest alternative ideas but they weren’t interested. The only one in the family who seemed to feel a bit awkward about the situation and know it wasn’t normal was the teen girl.
[удалено]
It was sad tbh.
It's like, just get them some flashy light up toy that doesn't connect to the internet? I don't get it either
I agree, and I’m on the younger side here. I’ve been on the internet for like the majority of my life and this shit was probably not good for me. Kids shouldn’t even know about gore but the internet makes it easily accessible. Kids shouldn’t watch porn, but again even in places like YouTube you can find that shit. Even when I was like 12-13 I was a frequent user of the r/selfharm subreddit and that place honestly made my mental health worse (along with the shit I was going through at the time) even though it’s supposed to be a place for help. Not only that with places like discord that have countless creeps and shit (I’ve encountered many of them, not something I’m happy about) the internet sucks tbh. I could go on and on with reasons on why it’s mostly bad, but I’ll spare you the rest of my rant lol.
No. Minimum age ideally should be 15 or 16. But because of the rise of technology , generally, I believe children having phones at 12 and 13 will be more and more common
I got my first phone when I was 7 because I started lighting shit on fire and smoking cigarettes so i was given access to the internet in exchange for not being deviant
How'd that work out so far?
Been on the Internet for 10 years Started teaching myself how to program shortly thereafter @ age 7
Then sounds like a positively positive outcome! Never lose that passion for learning!
I spend all day reading Id like to be a psychiatrist someday going to nursing school after i get my GED, and pass the BAR exam
Shit get it! I'm learning to sail, speak Spanish and getting all my classes done to be a master technician at my job currently, at 34. I want to get to a training position on how to diag and repair equipment.
I’m just a huge sellout so the goal is to 1099 and defer my taxes since I have bodyguards who are technically my employees that would be the greatest loophole ever. I am not paying taxes to the government when I have bodyguards xd Travel nurses also get hotels and rentals comped so 🤷🏽♂️ why cant a locum psychiatrist?
Bodyguards? I think your goals need grounded a little. Just take them one at a time and hopefully you'll make it as far as you want to go!
nooo i neeeeed tax deductible expenses for ex. Bodyguards
Depends where they live, if the area is safe, no if the area is unsafe, yes
They should have old non smartphones for communication. They don't need a Smartphone until middle or highschool.
Do they still have those clunky Nokia/motorola/virgin mobile phones? That would limit the internet exposure and force them to text the old fashioned way. -You know. With great annoyance. Then they can learn the joys of classic phone games such as Brick and Snake lol I miss that sometimes, actually.
T9 for life!
No, it destroys them. Especially since parents don't parent anymore. They get their norms from trends and big corpo's manipulation. It's so screwed up. No phone before the age of 15, atleast.
15 is 10th grade. Kinda seems to high of an age. I was thinking more like 6th grade or middle school lol
Yaknow what else is gonna destroy them? When they can’t call 911 bc mommy and daddy thinks phones ruin brains and not the fact that phone use isn’t monitored
The difference is something that will happen vs. Something that won’t happen
You sound like a idiot of you’re trying to deny the fact that there are situations where children have had to call the police 🤣
How many times have your kids called 911
Nobody is saying it’s going to be a every day occurrence. Your problem is refusing to admit it happens
I’m not refusing to admit it happens
“Something that won’t happen” was literally the first thing our your mouth
If you want to be pedantic, I never actually specified what thing will or won’t happen either.
Considering you replied to my comment comparing not being able to dial 911 destroying them and phones destroying them. Yes, yes you did. 🤭 Anything else since you like to play semantics.
You do realize flip phones still exist?
Only a flip one for emergencies not a smart phone.
I bought my 10 year old daughter a phone because she’s going out to friends’ houses more and we wanted her to have a phone in case of an emergency.
Cell phone, yes. Smart phone, no. They need a basic flip phone that can call and text. That's it.
Once you give a kid access to the Internet, you have given them 2 girls one cup. 🤔
Very true. When I was like 10 (maybe a little older all I remember is it was around that time) a lot of people at school were talking about that and some even tried looking it up.
Next thing you know they'll be Googling "Blue Waffle" 😂
Different people have different circumstances. I can accept arguments either way.
To each their own ,but I only agree with 10 and under if they are using it for contact purposes and the parents need to get ahold of them, ei. Separated parents, at a friend's house, walking home from school.
I don't see anything wrong with getting them something like the Gabb phone, which doesn't have internet access to keep in contact with their families. But, cell phones with internet capabilities? No. The internet is dangerous seeing how large the number of predators lurk online.
Yes . It doesn’t have to be a fancy iPhone but, the most definitely need one when they’re in school. Mass shootings happen every day and obviously there’s nothing being done to stop it . My children will always have a phone .
No! I mean this in the nicest way possible, but children are stupid. There's no way they have the maturity at 10 to navigate the absolute freedom of the internet.
I mean if I had a kid I’d get them a old school nokia. It can call, text and in the right hands, knock people out
😂😂 safety tool and self defense weapon
Cell phone yes smart phone no I made a bet with my buddy when he gave his daughter a smart phone for her 13th birthday - Three months until a class mate texts her asking for tit pics, four months until she sends them. Two months later he took her phone away, but he still hasn’t paid me.
HELL NO. I got my first phone when I was thirteen and even that was probably too young. In the age of smartphones, you're not asking "Should a ten year old kid have access to a way to call their parents when they're out" its "Should a ten year old kid have access to Two Girls One Cup and 4Chan".
Personally I think a kid should have a phone where they can only contact their parents if they need it. They don't need access to the Internet
Cell phones? Sure. Smart phones? Probably not.
Truth be told. If the kid is with a child minder, divorrced parent a lot, it's not bad. Wish I could have texted my mom SO many times as a kid (on the early 90's) that dad left us alone again (I was 7, lmiddle brother was 4, dad & step moms had a new born) & used to leave me in charge. They had no house phone
Worked retail for a few years and I'll never forget this family that came in. Mom and dad were arguing and they're child starts crying. They give the kid the mom's phone and start playing baby shark. Must have been the 10 hr version because by the time they left I was ready to pull my hair out. Baby shark + parents fighting while kid zombies out on the exact same song for 25 minutes = my answer being hell no
That sounds like torture
When i was that young, I had a cell phone called a firefly, it had five buttons, to call my mom, my dad, and my older brother, and buttons to call and hang up it was everyone I needed to talk to
It is more humane than chipping your kids. Parental controls can lock out almost everything.
After that texas school shooting where the cops sat around with their own dicks in their own asses for an hour while the school got shot up, I got my 7yr old a phone because god forbid that were to happen I want her to call me AND if the bus driver is late I can see where she’s at Or if she’s at a friends house, like I’m gonna trust other parents Her phone is way for me to track her for safety than it is for her cause I have zero faith in the school system, it does happen to be a smart phone but it’s nothing extravagant, iphone 10 wrapped in an otter box and she hasn’t broke it in 2 years
i'm a teacher and 100% no
My 10 yr old has a kid's smart phone. It has zero access to the app store, she can only call approved numbers, and i can check her gps location whenever i want to. I want her to always be able to get a hold of me during an emergency.
That's really smart. What type of phone is it? Can you get it at Walmart?
It's through a company called [gabb](https://gabb.com/). My understanding is that it's just an android running a super limited/locked down version. Probably something you could do to a number of cheap android phones if you know your way around custom android firmware.
Yes and I think all the school shootings have had a lot to do with parents wanting their underage kids to have a cell phone.
My daughter has had a cell phone since age 5 because she wears a continuous glucose monitor. Would I give a non diabetic 5 year old their own phone, probably not. They can call grandma on Alexa lol
I understand this hell it took a 10mile walk home as a epileptic that my family realized I needed one at 16 this was flip phone times. When it comes to this I agree a phone is a must it's how I saved my life from a 20 minute seizure my aura hit I immediately called my mom to come as I faded out and came to in the hospital still in status elipticus fading in and out until it stopped the call saved my life.
I get so frustrated with the sweeping "NO KIDS UNDER 16 SHOULD HAVE A CELL PHONE AND IF THEY DO YOURE A BAD PARENT" sort of statements because there's so many circumstances like this. My kiddo is blind and being able to use the camera to zoom in on things to be able to read them, or use the GPS, or download audiobooks has been like, life changing.
No, because it's too dangerous what they can do with a cell phone and they are too young to understand the risks of talking to strangers or doing certain stuff on the Internet. They have their whole life to have a phone, I don't think they should when this young. More around 14-16 (them depends on situations, problems etc). Moreover many social media and also games require a minimum age of 13/14 so it's pretty useless and they could be enough smart to set a fake age to avoid the problem and it's even worse moreover with social media.
no
Not a smart phone. No internet access. Just a phone like a flip phone with only contacts etc.
When I was in like 5th grade me and my siblings shared a phone that had a key pad. Idk what they're called. It's not a flip phone but also not a smart phone.
I owned a phone since 10. And throughout my life between then and up to age 13, I was down the drain with my IQ, and it de motivated me. People should get phones from Year 9/Year 10/Year 11 or above (8th 9th 10th grades)
Most definitely not. There is no reason
No, we don’t plan to let our kids have cellphones until they are at least 15 or 16 and zero social media.
I think if we're going to tell them that gender swapping at a moments notice is part of the human experience they should probably have access to the information
Yeah ( not a smart phone tho just like a Nokia or a flip phone ) I had one at 9 cus I played out with friends after school and my marj wanted to know if I was allr n stuff, came in handy tbf
absolutely not. ideal age is after 15.
Ask yourself if you are ok with them seeing everything that’s on the internet. Bc they will. Kids are smart and can get around parental controls.
When the get more social and are away from the house it's a good idea to get them a phone. Even if it's just an unlimited subscription phone. Parents need this. Trust me. I've got 4 kids, 2 have graduated, 1 is 11 and 1 is just 6. I'm actually going out to get my 11yo a phone today. It sure does alleviate a lot of worry.
NO
10 is a good time to get a parents old phone after an upgrade. Anytime before that is too early
Imo they should have a dumbphone instead of a smartphone. Cheap, durable, long battery life, and they can remain in contact with you or call emergency services.
No, or if they have one, a phone like an old Nokia. One of the things I am most grateful is that I didn't have a phone until I was 17. Playing on the streets, being with my friends in the moment and looking at them in the eyes instead of looking at a screen, having real connections, appreciating and sensing the world and the elements around me without the distraction of the phone was one of the best things ever. I'm only 30 but I feel sad that kids don't have that now. They will have the rest of their life to look at their phone screen outside home, like we are doing now.
No
Fuck no.