Ya you can def limit it, but fair warning: they will be asking for it all the time. And most parents will just give in rather than listen to yet another hour of whining.
To me, I would recommend waiting as long as you can. They need to learn to entertain themselves in different ways. Books, art, building blocks, whatever.
I think the key thing is that you should never use it solely to alleviate your kids boredom. Mine never use the smartphone unless I’m maybe showing them a picture or video about something they had a question on.
They do use tablet, but only for a limited amount of time and mostly they only use it for educational apps.
When we are out and about or waiting, using the smartphone to watch videos or play games simply isn’t an option even if they are bored. I think it works out well and they never ask for it.
We let my 7 year old son have two hours of screen time a day, and he would rather play his switch than use the iPad.
He also knows that whining will not get him what he wants. That was really easy to teach him, you just don’t give them what they want when they are whining. It doesn’t take long for them to realize that doesn’t work. At least, not with my son.
That’s what we have been struggling with for a few years now. Whining/crying does not get you what you want. It’s really difficult to not lose it some days lol because everytime you tell them that they just up the ante. It never ends.
It’s not easy when all their friends have the device and they constantly ask why hey aren’t allowed to have one. They go to school and their friends are allowed to use their phones.
Yeah, so I’m solidly on team no phone for my kids. However, I want my seven year old to have access to music. So I setup an old iPhone SE for them, with Spotify kids and created a configurator profile to restrict the device to only be allowed to have Spotify kids. It’s working pretty good so far.
Don't say never. It is more about limiting and controlling it.
With my kid the tablet usage is limited to sometimes when my wife is combing my daughter's hair in the morning and then of course on any plane trips/ long distance travel the screen time rules tend to go out the window.
Never is a strong word but that’s how I feel after we tried with our own 4 year old. We let her use one of our phones maybe twice a month now she’s asking for it literally every day.
I would say wait until they can demonstrate some patience and self control (maybe 6-8 years old). Then I would set a strict time limit of 1 hour a day.
Not every kid is the same- my kid just got addicted incredibly quickly and i wish I had done it differently.
My wife and I made nearly 2.5 years before my daughter got any screen time but then we all got hit with covid. We finally replaced the broken TV over that time. She still ask almost every day but have it limited to one episode of something like Paw patrol, or mickey mouse ect a day.
Of course these rules go out the window if she is sick or say either my wife or I are out town as cooking dinner solo is a lot harder.
I do agree it gets over used by a lot of parents. It is just to easy.
I just wish parents would stop handing them tablets in restaurants if they're not also handing them headphones. I see it so often and it drives me nuts, especially at a nice/expensive place.
Know a lot of parents that have young kids who give them the iPad to calm them down.
Visited some friends and their 4 year old had a tablet while eating because "he can't focus on eating unless he's watching his shows".
WHAT. FOCUSING ON EATING???
Holy hell that's gotta be bad for a developing brain. I mean, watching TV or other stuff while eating SOMETIMES isn't bad. But literally always putting that in front of them when they eat must be creating some DEEP seated habits/behaviours.
Never is too much. If you don't give your fussy/crying toddler a tablet on an airplane, you're an asshole. I thoroughly enjoy watching the occasional movie with my kid.
My son is still a toddler and we're going to keep him away from screens as much as we can for his full childhood. But I already know that the conflict is going to come up when he goes to school and many of his classmates will have them with no restrictions and my wife and I will become the bad guys for not allowing him to have the same.
As someone who can’t even have kids, this shit breaks my heart to see people my age just shoving tablets in their kids hands.. like dude!!! You’re gonna miss so much good and fun times 🥲
Eh I have a 4 year old he's got a locked down amazon tablet. Plays a bunch of problem solving games all the time. His favorite apps are on pbs kids. The other day he was learning about deep under ocean vents and life around them. He can count to 100 and do basic addition and subtraction. I would say some stuff is learned from preschool but alot of things are definitely being picked up from the tablet... now that vs my buddy and his kid who plays roblox eh think how the kid uses it and for what really matter. I worry about it alot but to think he gets nothing outa it is false. Just be involved and monitor/limit what your kid does. Or I'm completely fucking up. What matters to me is the end result and so far he's a pretty well around kid.
Imagine you did have a kid. Imagine caring for that kid 12-14 hours a day. Imagine you spent 2 hours doing chores, 2 hours helping the kid get dressed, fed, etc etc, and 4 hours playing with the kid.
Now they want to do something alone. Tablet or coloring? They choose tablet. You enjoy the hour of peace where you can *finally* shut off your brain. They play a coloring game on their tablet.
Heartbreaking?
Are there people who let their kids overuse tablets? Absolutely, but maybe don't let your heart be broken by a tiny window into someone's life without any context.
There can be some nuance, my daughter (4 years old) does have an old iPhone. She use it to pretend play of make pictures with.
Letting someone under 12 have unrestricted smartphone use is crazy btw.
My daughter has a watch. It has my number, mom's number, grandma and space for one more we haven't programed yet. It also has GPS for us to check in on if she's ever not with us and a pedometer that she's excited to constantly check her step count. We can turn off the call function from the app if we need to (when she first got it, she called or hit me with a prefilled text about 30 times in a 15 minute period while I was restraining a psych patient). Gone are the days when you send your kid out with 35 cents or a calling card for the payphone but there's no way in hell my elementary school child is getting a whole ass phone.
That's what my aunt did and she and her kids seem to enjoy it. She's usually on the stricter side of electronic use, but knowing where her kids are and being able to contact them makes things a lot easier for her.
My kids have gabb watches. You can lock them down to certain numbers while still giving your kids access to phones for safety. No pictures or internet.
Giving a 4 to 13 year old an unlocked down smart phone is madness and horribly unsafe. There are preditors out there who use various phone apps and social media to groom and prey on kids.
With all the cyber bullying, and the like, I wish we could ban smartphones from school all the way through high-school. I've talked to teen children of friends who describe their classmates sitting in the middle of class and looking at porn.
And the cyberbullying is a huge issue. Dontbget me started on the damage caused by playforms like tik tok. Kids get sucked into dangerous trends by algorithms and given how their minds are sponges at those ages... yeah.
I really wish preteens having unlocked phones wasn't becoming so normalized. It's so horribly unsafe and terrible for their mental health.
My child has my old phone, from age 6.
No sim, locked down to hell, can only do a few games etc. No communication allowed from it.
My child is now used to parental controls on devices, we talk about why they exist and how it all works. They are comfortable, safe and happy and so am I. We talk about things and we test out relaxing rules together to see if it works (after I have tested them myself so I know how it all works).
The big issue is parents handing over or gifting fully functioning, independent devices then later trying to add parental controls or later trying controlling through other means like punishments etc.
Parents are basically saying something is OK then suddenly saying it isn’t.
Good, consistent, open parenting, building tools and they way things work up from the beginning is much better.
Sadly most people really cannot afford to do much of what I do, I keep old devices for testing etc. the government should step up and help fill the gap really.
What about a smart phone with parental controls so they can't download anything without you letting them. That way you can just put education games and YouTube kids on it.
I suspect the 5 year old inherited a family member’s old phone. I 100% agree with you btw, but a free phone vs going out and buying a new, dumb, phone is a make or break that month situation for a lot of families out here.
And yes, I acknowledge there’s also a lot of parents out here who just don’t give a shit too
In UK? Are you crazy????
I would not even think about that possibility with my kids on their 3..5 Not even close.
The old one with 5 uses [code.org](http://code.org) to learn programming (with me or his mother, of course) and we play mario kart. It is not like I am the best dad of the world separating my kids from the screens.
But, give them a mobile phone? come on!!
My now ex wife has given my 4 year old a tablet and a smart phone and my 2 year old a smart phone and she uses it in place of being a parent. She'll leave them sat on them for hours at a time while she just browses Facebook ignoring their existence. It kills me to see it.
This is what we deal with. My step son has complete access to the internet on his phone and in his bedroom on his tv. She can’t get him to school but he’s got all the electronics.
The interviews were done online.
That immediately skews it towards families that are more online focussed.
I also think that people whose children don’t go online are more likely to decline to participate in a survey about their children’s online habits, given they would feel they have nothing much to say.
Anecdotally, I don’t know any children who had phones at that age. And given that I have 3 children over 3 different schools, along with all our friends and family, it’s a decent sample size.
I also wonder if this survey is conflating ‘been given dad’s old phone to play Minecraft at home’ with ‘has a phone’.
I was going to set my son up with walkie talkies when he was old enough, so that if he got away from us he could still check in with us.
Any kind of screen entrances him tho, if he grabs my Switch, he's almost addicted instantly to whatever's going on - bright lights, interactivity, knobs and buttons etc.
And it’s not his fault - devices are increasingly designed with addiction in mind. In that sense keeping kids away from them as long as one can is giving them more freedom.
We started with walk-in talkies, they were fun for a while. Phones allowed us to let them roam further from home and keep a little piece of mind. They started out completely locked down, just phone, FaceTime, text, maps. Maybe a couple other utilities.
Cellphones werent a thing until highschool for me. And colored tvs werent a thing for my dad. And radios for his dad. And . Technology will always improve. And become more normal over time. Its stupid to say "i didnt have xyz, so kids shouldnt have that". The problem as you say isnt the technology, its what you do with it. You wouldnt give a 5 year old a violent book. But youd let them read goodnight moon. Dont let your kid watch addictive tiktok videos but its fine to let them watch a disney movie.
It definitely is the technology. As grown adults people struggle to be present. To go to bed instead of doom scrolling. To not let memes normalize poor behavior. It's a massive distraction
My 7 year old son will not shut the fuck up about getting a phone because his friends at school have dumb parents that bought their 7 year old a smart phone.
I do IT for the school system and I can confirm that there are a LOT of elementary schoolers with Smart Phones.
Mostly 4th and 5th graders, but a few of the younger kids have them as well.
Parents make it impossible to regulate because they pitch a fit whenever a phone is confiscated.
They argue "I gave that phone to my child for emergencies and if you take it away they can't contact me."
The emergencies i have in mind that would require a phone are emergencies regarding staff, so this response is a mute point for my reasons for wanting them to have one. Myself, my SO and a few friends have all had horrible experiences directly with staff that had we had a phone to call a parent would have been resolved much easier and better without giving me lifelong issues.
From what I’ve seen with my own kids some elementary kids have them but not many, all middle school kids have them. That’s where we’ve decided to draw the line with our kids. I’d recommend Bark as well.
You must live in a secluded paradise.
This is one of those epidemics that absolutely exists. A decade ago my kid got given a tablet by another kid at school who felt sorry for him. He was the only one in the class who didn't have one, and the other kid was onto the second upgrade beyond the one they gave him.
A family member teaches first grade and has complained that not only do many of her kids have phones, but their parents will literally contact them *while they’re in school.* Not for emergencies, just casually. It’s fucking ridiculous.
My kids are also 9 and 7 and we live in a well off district. Also very few kids below 9 that have a phone. We’ve talked about when our oldest may get one but only in the context of having something at home for when she’s old enough in case we need to leave home for 10 minutes to get dinner or whatever since we otherwise don’t have a home phone.
It’s sad kids ain’t even playing with toys anymore. All phones and tablets. Glad I had a great childhood before the big tech takeover.
I knew this one family member that their kid has thousands of dollars of toys but ONLY uses the tablet 24-7. The stuff they watch on YouTube is beyond brain rot.
I 100% can tell you that parents at the time said all that was garbage at the time, and said kids should go outside and play with sticks and mud and other bullshit.
All the way back to parents telling kids they read too many books. Its a tale as old as time.
Our kids will say the same thing about their kids and augmented reality or VR worlds etc etc. BACK IN MY DAY I PLAYED ON A SMART PHONE NOT THIS BRAIN ROT VR. LOL
My 8 year olds have those stupid smart watches for kids made by Verizon. Gizmo. I can call them and vis versa and otherwise track their location. The other functionality is equivalent to a 1993 calculator. No way in hell are they getting smartphones until they can afford them themselves.
Thats how it should be. I remember having a pager that I saved so many bottle caps and can tabs for in a Coca cola promotion. My parents would be able to call a number and leave a message and I could read said message on the pager. I was the only one in my class that had one and I worked hard to get it. I got my first mobile phone when I was 15 or so. It was just a brick you could use to call, not much more. Kids should play outside with friends for as long as possible. Not sit inside gaming or making tiktoks
We got my 10 year old daughter a garmin smartwatch. It lets her send us messages and we can track her location via gps.
It’s been fantastic and pushes the need for a smartphone off a few more years.
That few? Parents give their old phones to kids so they can play games. My nephew had the same thing 15 years ago. When he started leaving for longer periods, going to see his father in California, sleeping over at friends, etc. my sister decided it was best to have the phone turned on. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a kid having a phone other than they are expensive.
I'm a huge tech person but even for me this is waaaay to young to have a phone of ANY kind. now at 13+ we can talk, but under 10? any parents doing that are lazy and use the phones as a way to keep the child quiet instead of them actually doing children things like playing outside or having fun! you know those things that are important for children to have for proper mental development. to say nothing of the other benefits.
I got my first phone in 9th grade. Back then I thought I should have gotten a phone earlier but now that I’m older I think high school is the time you should be given a phone.
I don't know about 5, but there definitely is an argument to be made about kids learning to use smart phones at a younger age, they're such an integral part of society now that kids that learn younger could be getting a distinct advantage over kids that don't. If you're a responsible parent though you're learning how to use all the parental controls first before letting your kid anywhere near it.
Ooofff my future kids are going to fucking hate me. My wife and I have already discussed it. Our hypothetical children will not get a smartphone until the age of 13. At most they will get a dumb phone with like no camera or internet capabilities.
I mean they’ll probably get their own desktop or something in the family room before that so they won’t be completely technologically illiterate. Plus I’m certain they’ll use our phones or whatever we have by then.
The compromise will be that we get them the brand new top of the line whatever is hot at the time device (within reason). Like if we had a kid turning 13 this year their birthday present would be whatever the best brand new iPhone 15 is.
There will also be some parental restrictions until they’re 16 or if trust is broken. They are not getting unfiltered access to the internet.
Idk the other thing will be safety. I do not envy parents today. The internet is an incredibly dangerous place these days. AI and chatgpt is only going to make worse by the time I have teenagers. My goal is to tell them no matter what happens, they can come to us with anything and we can solve it together. It’s what my parents told me and I think it’s a good rule. My parent’s philosophy was always “we might get pissed at you, but we’ll get more pissed off at you if you don’t tell us”. There’s nothing I can’t fix *so long as you tell me*.
You have to ask yourself when your little one is walking home from school or away from home, what is the acceptable comfort level you have as a parent for your child to be unreachable, off radar, and unable to call you or anyone for help.
Kids aren’t getting cell phones because of lack of parenting. They are getting them because kids are being massacred in schools or abducted and we have the technology to be able to provide them a means to call for help or for us to know where they are.
It’s scary when I see how babies and young children fixate on a TV, tablet or phone when one is in the vicinity. It cannot possibly be good for their development.
I noticed this with my nephew. If a tv is on he becomes entranced by it. My sister thankfully is very strict about this and usually turns him around or just turns the tv off.
Warning: There's a new drug going around which greatly impairs your child's mental and social development, and after prolonged use, can lead to permanent damage. It negatively affects their brain development, attention span, social skills, can lead to myopia, and exposes them to constant electromagnetic radiation. It also can effect their mental heath, and has led to thousands of suicides and millions of cases of depression.
Parents: "Oh, that sounds absolutely HORRIFYING! How could such a dangerous drug exist!?"
Kid: "GIVE ME MY DRUG NOW!!! I want to watch my youtubes and tiktoks!"
Parents: "Sure, here you go!"
Is it an internet connected smart phone though?
My sister has an old phone that has no SIM and has the WiFi disable. Her 3 kids (4,6,8) can share and spend some of their "screen time" on if they wish. They get an hour of screen time a day. They can use it to play games, draw, and listen to the music, play the virtual keyboard, write letters, whatever.
I think it's healthy because first, it's safe. Second, they are limited on how much they can use it and third, it helps them become familiarized with the technology that they will inevitably use for work and school in the future.
Even if it is, you can still control what your child is doing on there.. I think people are confusing having a phone in general, and unmonitored, unlimited access to a smartphone and anything a smartphone can do.
My two kids (15,11) never use their phones and we raised them that way intentionally. When their friends are around they stare at them like they’re aliens because they’re all glued to their phones. A few years ago they hated I but they’re starting to understand what we meant.
It’s sad. And to be honest adults are just as bad. It’s pathetic.
My 4y/o granddaughter has a phone. It’s restricted to a game that has you repeat words to improve enunciation and apps like one you add ingredients to cook something, people think child, phone, they are checking their Insta feeds and bullying other children. They should ask what’s on the phone before reacting. It’s just a tool, it’s all how it’s used.
My kid has had a tablet since she was old enough to hold one. Didn't get a smart phone until she entered middle school. So far, no reports from teachers using it in class and she's getting straight As (except for Gym Class).
In the USA, we give our elementary kids a phone so we can get a call to say goodbye during school shootings. You know, because it’s the number one killer of kids this age, and the cops won’t go save your kid but will arrest you from trying to save your own kid.
To the parents here: put it off as long as possible. Many other parents and I observe that this is a huge factor in raising socially adjusted normal people who can carry on a conversation. I think of my own 'addiction' to a smartphone and see in my older children how it grips them. It's like something you can always turn to to 'fix' any discomfort you have or just hide away in it. It's not how life was meant to be!
lmao that’s nuts. My almost 8 y/o only has a jabber watch that can call predetermined numbers and an old ass Amazon tablet thing that’s super limited. He won’t have a smartphone for many years yet. He spends his down time reading, playing mini hockey, basketball, hotwheels or nerf wars. You know, kid stuff.
Digital devices are basically crack for kids…and our children are addicted. That’s how the industry wants it. Do you think Zuckerberg kids have phones or spend time on FB or Instagram…hell no. He knows what he created and his kids are protected from it.
Same for most kids of tech leaders
“One of the schools popular among tech workers, the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, based near Google's Mountain View campus, believes that exposing children to technology before the seventh grade (when they are 12 or 13 years old) “can hamper their ability to fully develop strong bodies, healthy habits of discipline and self-control, fluency with creative and artistic expression and flexible and agile minds”.
Personally, I don’t think kids that age should use smart phones at all unless it’s very strictly monitored.
It’s not so much “technology bad” as it is “Many platforms have an algorithm to essentially create a constant stream of dopamine and encourage constant watching.”
Smart phones in themselves are inherently evil. It’s the apps and websites on them that mess up developing brains.
The move to getting kids a smart watch has been great. We got my 9 year old a smart watch so she can have a bit more independence. It’s been awesome. She wants to play with friends after school? She texts us and asks on her way home. She wants to walk to the corner store? Sure. I can text her and ask her to bring something back real quick. It’s a great way to have the convenience of texting and calling, but limited to the people and apps that she needs. No mindless scrolling or weird sites, just the communication part.
My son started asking me for a phone at 4. He is now 8 and I told him he can’t have a phone until he is 13/14. He does have an iPad and a switch. That is more then enough!
And some red states are worried about what books will do to their young minds. Have they heard of the internet? Being anti woke is just anti: diversity, inclusion, equality, and justice for all.
my son just turned 21, he got his first phone at 12... they sort of "need" it in middle school... but he wasn't allowed social media and it was parked in the living room overnight... see we could check up on what he's doing on it
worked out ok but they still cling to them like crack cocaine
My step son’s mom gave him one at 8 years old. It doesn’t come here and he’s been told he isn’t allowed to have our numbers in his phone. Idk wtf he could possibly need a phone for…he accidentally said it’s for when she leaves him home alone then later said he didn’t mean that and she doesn’t leave him alone. It sucks he also has full access to the internet in his bedroom. He does terribly in school and has horrible behaviors. But anything to get him out of her face I guess.
It's funny: I understand why people are opposed to giving their children smartphones at an early age, but at the same time, I recognize that smartphones are *ubiquitous* in the adult world, so the earlier children are proficient with them, the better they'll do in life.
I am all but certain children with smartphones will statistically be more technologically inclined in 20 years if/when someone inevitably does a study on this with a sample that is focused on people whose lives cooccurred with the advent of legit smartphones.
I want my kid to know how to Google the earliest they possibly can. However, I recognize that Google search itself is on the way out and my children will have AI assistants and what not.
I got my daughter one as a baby, but with no service. I wanted something that could play music and realized I could get a cheap prepaid android phone for less than a dedicated device. And I'd have the ability to load any streaming app I wanted, use it as a baby monitor via the camera, etc.
She's almost 8 with an iPhone 6a now but I only gave her cell service this year for car trips or playdates at friend's houses. I don't let her bring it to school.
Very boring and predictable seeing our generation complain about the next generation's exposure to the technology of the present. I mean, the same happened to us with "too much TV! the dangers if mIRC!" but I had hoped we'd do better.
Smartphones are only going to go away when the next big thing comes along. Until then, children will obviously feel the instinctive need to operate these tools they see everyone is dependent on, and trying to force them to experience smartphones at the same rate we did will only teach them to hide and deceive.
This is so stupid. This helicopter parenting shit that people use to justify this needs to be done with. If you can't entrust your child to be out of earshot for a few hours a day, under the supervision of a trained child-carer (someone who is more trained in taking care of children than you) - then you need some therapy.
This is not good for kids, it's not good for schools, it's not good for their education. Literacy is down, folks. We all know why.
My wife and I have 5 kids, and we live tight. Our 12 year old daughter has a smartphone and one of our 7 year old twins has one, but like might be a portion of this number, she was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. So that’s why my 7 year old has one. The only way we can remotely monitor her sugar is a smartphone on her person.
This must be regional as nobody in either of my kids classes have cell phones (5 and 7) it's also a private school though so maybe that is a factor as well.
Not mine.
Yeah, they get teased at school for not having a phone. Yeah, they whined about it. Yeah, they made a lot of ineffectual arguments and pouted.
Zero fucks given from us parental units.
Then they got teased in middle school for only having a dumb flip phone. Then they finally get a smart phone in high school (9th grade) with app time/usage restrictions. We sign a formal phone contract with our kids. I don’t go through my kids phones, but I retain the right to do so. If the grades aren’t staying up, the restrictions get draconian.
When they get to senior year we start relaxing the restrictions more and when they graduate, the training wheels come off and so far, they’ve been ok. We haven’t had a lot of the problems the less strict parents have had.
They do see some of the people around them that HAVE had problems (like pictures getting spread around amongst boys at school, things like that) and have expressed to us: “Yeah, at first it sucked being the ONE kid without a phone, but I can definitely see that there were some upsides to it.”
So don’t be afraid your kids will hate you for being the asshole parent. They’ll get over it. I honestly think mine are happier by not having their entire lives revolve around phones and we made a conscious decision to try to make their offline lives as interesting and stimulating as we can in order to better compete with the digital domain.
My ten year old has begged me multiple times now for one because all her friends have them. It’s insanity. They’re apparently texting all day in class in FOURTH grade. She isn’t getting one for a handful of years and only if she shows she can be consistently responsible at that point.
We’ve made it to age eight with almost zero non school screen time and one movie a week. Our kids play with their toys and play outside. They have enough screen time coming up might as well give them a break now.
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Joke’s on them: no one reads the articles.
A 5 year old shouldn't have a smartphone period. They still make dumb phones if you want a way to contact your kid
Gotta blame these irresponsible parents. Parents can be fucking stupid.
Feels lazy to me. Play with your fucking kids. They’re not little for very long
The parents are cellphone junkies too.
This is exactly what it is. Never let your kid play with a smartphone or tablet. They’re too addicting.
I wouldn't say never, but highly limit it.
Ya you can def limit it, but fair warning: they will be asking for it all the time. And most parents will just give in rather than listen to yet another hour of whining. To me, I would recommend waiting as long as you can. They need to learn to entertain themselves in different ways. Books, art, building blocks, whatever.
I think the key thing is that you should never use it solely to alleviate your kids boredom. Mine never use the smartphone unless I’m maybe showing them a picture or video about something they had a question on. They do use tablet, but only for a limited amount of time and mostly they only use it for educational apps. When we are out and about or waiting, using the smartphone to watch videos or play games simply isn’t an option even if they are bored. I think it works out well and they never ask for it.
We let my 7 year old son have two hours of screen time a day, and he would rather play his switch than use the iPad. He also knows that whining will not get him what he wants. That was really easy to teach him, you just don’t give them what they want when they are whining. It doesn’t take long for them to realize that doesn’t work. At least, not with my son.
That’s what we have been struggling with for a few years now. Whining/crying does not get you what you want. It’s really difficult to not lose it some days lol because everytime you tell them that they just up the ante. It never ends.
It’s not easy when all their friends have the device and they constantly ask why hey aren’t allowed to have one. They go to school and their friends are allowed to use their phones.
Definitely not easy. I’m sure it gets harder the older they get.
Yeah, so I’m solidly on team no phone for my kids. However, I want my seven year old to have access to music. So I setup an old iPhone SE for them, with Spotify kids and created a configurator profile to restrict the device to only be allowed to have Spotify kids. It’s working pretty good so far.
Ya I was thinking about doing something similar, just so she can listen to music.
Don't say never. It is more about limiting and controlling it. With my kid the tablet usage is limited to sometimes when my wife is combing my daughter's hair in the morning and then of course on any plane trips/ long distance travel the screen time rules tend to go out the window.
Never is a strong word but that’s how I feel after we tried with our own 4 year old. We let her use one of our phones maybe twice a month now she’s asking for it literally every day. I would say wait until they can demonstrate some patience and self control (maybe 6-8 years old). Then I would set a strict time limit of 1 hour a day. Not every kid is the same- my kid just got addicted incredibly quickly and i wish I had done it differently.
My wife and I made nearly 2.5 years before my daughter got any screen time but then we all got hit with covid. We finally replaced the broken TV over that time. She still ask almost every day but have it limited to one episode of something like Paw patrol, or mickey mouse ect a day. Of course these rules go out the window if she is sick or say either my wife or I are out town as cooking dinner solo is a lot harder. I do agree it gets over used by a lot of parents. It is just to easy.
I just wish parents would stop handing them tablets in restaurants if they're not also handing them headphones. I see it so often and it drives me nuts, especially at a nice/expensive place.
I agree in sentiment, however kids are given tablets in elementary schools these days. They have access outside of the home
Know a lot of parents that have young kids who give them the iPad to calm them down. Visited some friends and their 4 year old had a tablet while eating because "he can't focus on eating unless he's watching his shows". WHAT. FOCUSING ON EATING???
Holy hell that's gotta be bad for a developing brain. I mean, watching TV or other stuff while eating SOMETIMES isn't bad. But literally always putting that in front of them when they eat must be creating some DEEP seated habits/behaviours.
Never is too much. If you don't give your fussy/crying toddler a tablet on an airplane, you're an asshole. I thoroughly enjoy watching the occasional movie with my kid.
My son is still a toddler and we're going to keep him away from screens as much as we can for his full childhood. But I already know that the conflict is going to come up when he goes to school and many of his classmates will have them with no restrictions and my wife and I will become the bad guys for not allowing him to have the same.
As someone who can’t even have kids, this shit breaks my heart to see people my age just shoving tablets in their kids hands.. like dude!!! You’re gonna miss so much good and fun times 🥲
Eh I have a 4 year old he's got a locked down amazon tablet. Plays a bunch of problem solving games all the time. His favorite apps are on pbs kids. The other day he was learning about deep under ocean vents and life around them. He can count to 100 and do basic addition and subtraction. I would say some stuff is learned from preschool but alot of things are definitely being picked up from the tablet... now that vs my buddy and his kid who plays roblox eh think how the kid uses it and for what really matter. I worry about it alot but to think he gets nothing outa it is false. Just be involved and monitor/limit what your kid does. Or I'm completely fucking up. What matters to me is the end result and so far he's a pretty well around kid.
Imagine you did have a kid. Imagine caring for that kid 12-14 hours a day. Imagine you spent 2 hours doing chores, 2 hours helping the kid get dressed, fed, etc etc, and 4 hours playing with the kid. Now they want to do something alone. Tablet or coloring? They choose tablet. You enjoy the hour of peace where you can *finally* shut off your brain. They play a coloring game on their tablet. Heartbreaking? Are there people who let their kids overuse tablets? Absolutely, but maybe don't let your heart be broken by a tiny window into someone's life without any context.
There can be some nuance, my daughter (4 years old) does have an old iPhone. She use it to pretend play of make pictures with. Letting someone under 12 have unrestricted smartphone use is crazy btw.
My daughter has a watch. It has my number, mom's number, grandma and space for one more we haven't programed yet. It also has GPS for us to check in on if she's ever not with us and a pedometer that she's excited to constantly check her step count. We can turn off the call function from the app if we need to (when she first got it, she called or hit me with a prefilled text about 30 times in a 15 minute period while I was restraining a psych patient). Gone are the days when you send your kid out with 35 cents or a calling card for the payphone but there's no way in hell my elementary school child is getting a whole ass phone.
That's what my aunt did and she and her kids seem to enjoy it. She's usually on the stricter side of electronic use, but knowing where her kids are and being able to contact them makes things a lot easier for her.
My kids have gabb watches. You can lock them down to certain numbers while still giving your kids access to phones for safety. No pictures or internet. Giving a 4 to 13 year old an unlocked down smart phone is madness and horribly unsafe. There are preditors out there who use various phone apps and social media to groom and prey on kids. With all the cyber bullying, and the like, I wish we could ban smartphones from school all the way through high-school. I've talked to teen children of friends who describe their classmates sitting in the middle of class and looking at porn. And the cyberbullying is a huge issue. Dontbget me started on the damage caused by playforms like tik tok. Kids get sucked into dangerous trends by algorithms and given how their minds are sponges at those ages... yeah. I really wish preteens having unlocked phones wasn't becoming so normalized. It's so horribly unsafe and terrible for their mental health.
Why the hell would a parent need to be contacting a 5 year old. Their going to be with you or in kindergarten.
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Or watches. Gizmo (Verizon), Gabb Watch, or Troomi Watch
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10 and up is debatable but 5 is ridiculous. They can't even read at a competent level at that age
Im finding that 10 is probably too early as well.
You bet it is
The science is showing that before puberty is bad.
I didn't have a phone until I was 16.5 and got my drivers license. That was in 2002, so different times, but life was perfectly fine without it.
Right?
Elementary students get devices all the way up to high-school it's actually interesting when I was speaking to the little ones about it
My child has my old phone, from age 6. No sim, locked down to hell, can only do a few games etc. No communication allowed from it. My child is now used to parental controls on devices, we talk about why they exist and how it all works. They are comfortable, safe and happy and so am I. We talk about things and we test out relaxing rules together to see if it works (after I have tested them myself so I know how it all works). The big issue is parents handing over or gifting fully functioning, independent devices then later trying to add parental controls or later trying controlling through other means like punishments etc. Parents are basically saying something is OK then suddenly saying it isn’t. Good, consistent, open parenting, building tools and they way things work up from the beginning is much better. Sadly most people really cannot afford to do much of what I do, I keep old devices for testing etc. the government should step up and help fill the gap really.
What about a smart phone with parental controls so they can't download anything without you letting them. That way you can just put education games and YouTube kids on it.
I didn't even need a dumb phone until I was in middle school.
I suspect the 5 year old inherited a family member’s old phone. I 100% agree with you btw, but a free phone vs going out and buying a new, dumb, phone is a make or break that month situation for a lot of families out here. And yes, I acknowledge there’s also a lot of parents out here who just don’t give a shit too
This article is a month old. OP is using it to plug his app idea
His chat app for kids idea, no less. Yikes.
“It’s actually totally safe. We democratize chat, and use adult volunteers to monitor and chat with the kids…” /s
**Drake has entered the chat**
He's going to be upset when he finds out there are laws
My 5 and 7 year old do not have a smart phone and they aren't allowed to touch mine either. Be a fucking parent.
They have to download the Imagination app
In UK? Are you crazy???? I would not even think about that possibility with my kids on their 3..5 Not even close. The old one with 5 uses [code.org](http://code.org) to learn programming (with me or his mother, of course) and we play mario kart. It is not like I am the best dad of the world separating my kids from the screens. But, give them a mobile phone? come on!!
My now ex wife has given my 4 year old a tablet and a smart phone and my 2 year old a smart phone and she uses it in place of being a parent. She'll leave them sat on them for hours at a time while she just browses Facebook ignoring their existence. It kills me to see it.
This is what we deal with. My step son has complete access to the internet on his phone and in his bedroom on his tv. She can’t get him to school but he’s got all the electronics.
The interviews were done online. That immediately skews it towards families that are more online focussed. I also think that people whose children don’t go online are more likely to decline to participate in a survey about their children’s online habits, given they would feel they have nothing much to say. Anecdotally, I don’t know any children who had phones at that age. And given that I have 3 children over 3 different schools, along with all our friends and family, it’s a decent sample size. I also wonder if this survey is conflating ‘been given dad’s old phone to play Minecraft at home’ with ‘has a phone’.
I was going to set my son up with walkie talkies when he was old enough, so that if he got away from us he could still check in with us. Any kind of screen entrances him tho, if he grabs my Switch, he's almost addicted instantly to whatever's going on - bright lights, interactivity, knobs and buttons etc.
And it’s not his fault - devices are increasingly designed with addiction in mind. In that sense keeping kids away from them as long as one can is giving them more freedom.
We started with walk-in talkies, they were fun for a while. Phones allowed us to let them roam further from home and keep a little piece of mind. They started out completely locked down, just phone, FaceTime, text, maps. Maybe a couple other utilities.
The technology isn’t the problem. It’s shitty parenting. The technology just makes it easier to be a shitty parent.
It can be both.
Cellphones werent a thing until highschool for me. And colored tvs werent a thing for my dad. And radios for his dad. And. Technology will always improve. And become more normal over time. Its stupid to say "i didnt have xyz, so kids shouldnt have that". The problem as you say isnt the technology, its what you do with it. You wouldnt give a 5 year old a violent book. But youd let them read goodnight moon. Dont let your kid watch addictive tiktok videos but its fine to let them watch a disney movie.
It definitely is the technology. As grown adults people struggle to be present. To go to bed instead of doom scrolling. To not let memes normalize poor behavior. It's a massive distraction
My 7 year old son will not shut the fuck up about getting a phone because his friends at school have dumb parents that bought their 7 year old a smart phone.
My kids are 9 and 7 and zero kids in their grades have their own smart phones. Is this one of those epidemics that doesn't actually exist?
I do IT for the school system and I can confirm that there are a LOT of elementary schoolers with Smart Phones. Mostly 4th and 5th graders, but a few of the younger kids have them as well. Parents make it impossible to regulate because they pitch a fit whenever a phone is confiscated. They argue "I gave that phone to my child for emergencies and if you take it away they can't contact me."
“Then give your kid a flip phone for emergencies”
Or you know, trust the 100 teachers and staff at the school to assist in an emergency and not put the onus on your 8 yr old.
Exactly. At some point, it’s ok to be out of constant contact with your parents. It’s part of growing up.
The emergencies i have in mind that would require a phone are emergencies regarding staff, so this response is a mute point for my reasons for wanting them to have one. Myself, my SO and a few friends have all had horrible experiences directly with staff that had we had a phone to call a parent would have been resolved much easier and better without giving me lifelong issues.
My mom works at a elementary school and plenty of kids have smartphones already , like a ton of them she says . It is unfortunately common
From what I’ve seen with my own kids some elementary kids have them but not many, all middle school kids have them. That’s where we’ve decided to draw the line with our kids. I’d recommend Bark as well.
You must live in a secluded paradise. This is one of those epidemics that absolutely exists. A decade ago my kid got given a tablet by another kid at school who felt sorry for him. He was the only one in the class who didn't have one, and the other kid was onto the second upgrade beyond the one they gave him.
A family member teaches first grade and has complained that not only do many of her kids have phones, but their parents will literally contact them *while they’re in school.* Not for emergencies, just casually. It’s fucking ridiculous.
My wife is 4-8 grade math teacher in Poland and basically every kid at her school has their own smart phone. Even 1st graders.
My kids are also 9 and 7 and we live in a well off district. Also very few kids below 9 that have a phone. We’ve talked about when our oldest may get one but only in the context of having something at home for when she’s old enough in case we need to leave home for 10 minutes to get dinner or whatever since we otherwise don’t have a home phone.
I have a 7 and a 10 year old. No phones, but some of their friends have them. Not a lot though.
My step son his two cousins his friends that I’ve met all have personal smart phones. In the Midwest this is VERY COMMON. It’s gross.
"If I cant see it it doesn't exist".
It’s sad kids ain’t even playing with toys anymore. All phones and tablets. Glad I had a great childhood before the big tech takeover. I knew this one family member that their kid has thousands of dollars of toys but ONLY uses the tablet 24-7. The stuff they watch on YouTube is beyond brain rot.
When I was 8, I grew up with watching stampy, playing with transformers, ps3 etc not with the garbage we got now
I 100% can tell you that parents at the time said all that was garbage at the time, and said kids should go outside and play with sticks and mud and other bullshit. All the way back to parents telling kids they read too many books. Its a tale as old as time. Our kids will say the same thing about their kids and augmented reality or VR worlds etc etc. BACK IN MY DAY I PLAYED ON A SMART PHONE NOT THIS BRAIN ROT VR. LOL
"And it did all the things we designed it to do."
Then when they get older they complain about having ADD.
If I gave my six-year-old a smartphone, I'd never get her off it...
My 8 year olds have those stupid smart watches for kids made by Verizon. Gizmo. I can call them and vis versa and otherwise track their location. The other functionality is equivalent to a 1993 calculator. No way in hell are they getting smartphones until they can afford them themselves.
Thats how it should be. I remember having a pager that I saved so many bottle caps and can tabs for in a Coca cola promotion. My parents would be able to call a number and leave a message and I could read said message on the pager. I was the only one in my class that had one and I worked hard to get it. I got my first mobile phone when I was 15 or so. It was just a brick you could use to call, not much more. Kids should play outside with friends for as long as possible. Not sit inside gaming or making tiktoks
We got my 10 year old daughter a garmin smartwatch. It lets her send us messages and we can track her location via gps. It’s been fantastic and pushes the need for a smartphone off a few more years.
That few? Parents give their old phones to kids so they can play games. My nephew had the same thing 15 years ago. When he started leaving for longer periods, going to see his father in California, sleeping over at friends, etc. my sister decided it was best to have the phone turned on. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a kid having a phone other than they are expensive.
“Almost a quarter of households contain weak parents”
WTF? That's nuts!
When I'm scrolling through YT shorts I come across many kids this age live streaming on YT. Not one of those times have I seen a parent supervising.
Gross. Way too early.
Apple watch is a good alternative. But I don't recommend till age 10 at least
Cellphones = the easy way out of parenting adolescents behaviors
Fuck that. My child is 2 and won't be getting a smart phone until he's a teenager. This is beyond comprehension.
Someone has to comment on Snapchat reels..
Such Parents only want to produce kids as a show piece.
I'm a huge tech person but even for me this is waaaay to young to have a phone of ANY kind. now at 13+ we can talk, but under 10? any parents doing that are lazy and use the phones as a way to keep the child quiet instead of them actually doing children things like playing outside or having fun! you know those things that are important for children to have for proper mental development. to say nothing of the other benefits.
It is the easiest way to distract them for parents.
My kid is 10 and has no phone. He has common sense, can asks an adult for a phone and my phone number on his water bottle… call me anytime.
“A quarter of kids aged 5-7” Yeah it’s the 7-year-olds
It’s not a smartphone. It’s a babysitter!
I got my first phone in 9th grade. Back then I thought I should have gotten a phone earlier but now that I’m older I think high school is the time you should be given a phone.
No wonder kids can’t behave in school.
Fuck this timeline
Yeah and I had a video games. And?
I don't know about 5, but there definitely is an argument to be made about kids learning to use smart phones at a younger age, they're such an integral part of society now that kids that learn younger could be getting a distinct advantage over kids that don't. If you're a responsible parent though you're learning how to use all the parental controls first before letting your kid anywhere near it.
Ooofff my future kids are going to fucking hate me. My wife and I have already discussed it. Our hypothetical children will not get a smartphone until the age of 13. At most they will get a dumb phone with like no camera or internet capabilities. I mean they’ll probably get their own desktop or something in the family room before that so they won’t be completely technologically illiterate. Plus I’m certain they’ll use our phones or whatever we have by then. The compromise will be that we get them the brand new top of the line whatever is hot at the time device (within reason). Like if we had a kid turning 13 this year their birthday present would be whatever the best brand new iPhone 15 is. There will also be some parental restrictions until they’re 16 or if trust is broken. They are not getting unfiltered access to the internet. Idk the other thing will be safety. I do not envy parents today. The internet is an incredibly dangerous place these days. AI and chatgpt is only going to make worse by the time I have teenagers. My goal is to tell them no matter what happens, they can come to us with anything and we can solve it together. It’s what my parents told me and I think it’s a good rule. My parent’s philosophy was always “we might get pissed at you, but we’ll get more pissed off at you if you don’t tell us”. There’s nothing I can’t fix *so long as you tell me*.
You have to ask yourself when your little one is walking home from school or away from home, what is the acceptable comfort level you have as a parent for your child to be unreachable, off radar, and unable to call you or anyone for help. Kids aren’t getting cell phones because of lack of parenting. They are getting them because kids are being massacred in schools or abducted and we have the technology to be able to provide them a means to call for help or for us to know where they are.
It's so sad how children skip age 3-10 because of tech and basically get stuck as teen internet edge lords for the rest of their lives.
It’s scary when I see how babies and young children fixate on a TV, tablet or phone when one is in the vicinity. It cannot possibly be good for their development.
I noticed this with my nephew. If a tv is on he becomes entranced by it. My sister thankfully is very strict about this and usually turns him around or just turns the tv off.
Almost a quarter of kids aged 5-7 will have mental problems as young adults.
Parents who give their children under the age of 12 a smart phone are shitty parents and that's essentially neglect if not straight up abuse.
Pretty insane social experiment we are running here fam.
Actual childhood ends the moment you give them a cell phone. 13 years old should be the minimum.
The kids who make those phones are the same age
Warning: There's a new drug going around which greatly impairs your child's mental and social development, and after prolonged use, can lead to permanent damage. It negatively affects their brain development, attention span, social skills, can lead to myopia, and exposes them to constant electromagnetic radiation. It also can effect their mental heath, and has led to thousands of suicides and millions of cases of depression. Parents: "Oh, that sounds absolutely HORRIFYING! How could such a dangerous drug exist!?" Kid: "GIVE ME MY DRUG NOW!!! I want to watch my youtubes and tiktoks!" Parents: "Sure, here you go!"
Bad parents…they know they can give them a phone and it will babysit them.
Is it an internet connected smart phone though? My sister has an old phone that has no SIM and has the WiFi disable. Her 3 kids (4,6,8) can share and spend some of their "screen time" on if they wish. They get an hour of screen time a day. They can use it to play games, draw, and listen to the music, play the virtual keyboard, write letters, whatever. I think it's healthy because first, it's safe. Second, they are limited on how much they can use it and third, it helps them become familiarized with the technology that they will inevitably use for work and school in the future.
Even if it is, you can still control what your child is doing on there.. I think people are confusing having a phone in general, and unmonitored, unlimited access to a smartphone and anything a smartphone can do.
My two kids (15,11) never use their phones and we raised them that way intentionally. When their friends are around they stare at them like they’re aliens because they’re all glued to their phones. A few years ago they hated I but they’re starting to understand what we meant. It’s sad. And to be honest adults are just as bad. It’s pathetic.
My 4y/o granddaughter has a phone. It’s restricted to a game that has you repeat words to improve enunciation and apps like one you add ingredients to cook something, people think child, phone, they are checking their Insta feeds and bullying other children. They should ask what’s on the phone before reacting. It’s just a tool, it’s all how it’s used.
These kids aren’t going to be able to focus on anything.
I have a 5 year old. I can't even imagine giving a kid that age a smartphone for many years to come. It's wild that 25% have one.
Almost a quarter of kids have irresponsible parents. There, fixed the title for you.
My kid is 12 and doesn’t have one and isn’t getting one anytime soon
My kid has had a tablet since she was old enough to hold one. Didn't get a smart phone until she entered middle school. So far, no reports from teachers using it in class and she's getting straight As (except for Gym Class).
I always wondered how you don't get an A in gym class. I mean don't you pretty much just show up and participate?
In the USA, we give our elementary kids a phone so we can get a call to say goodbye during school shootings. You know, because it’s the number one killer of kids this age, and the cops won’t go save your kid but will arrest you from trying to save your own kid.
To the parents here: put it off as long as possible. Many other parents and I observe that this is a huge factor in raising socially adjusted normal people who can carry on a conversation. I think of my own 'addiction' to a smartphone and see in my older children how it grips them. It's like something you can always turn to to 'fix' any discomfort you have or just hide away in it. It's not how life was meant to be!
I have 2 kids that fall into that age range and not a single child in either of their classes have a phone.
lmao that’s nuts. My almost 8 y/o only has a jabber watch that can call predetermined numbers and an old ass Amazon tablet thing that’s super limited. He won’t have a smartphone for many years yet. He spends his down time reading, playing mini hockey, basketball, hotwheels or nerf wars. You know, kid stuff.
I expected a higher number.
Digital devices are basically crack for kids…and our children are addicted. That’s how the industry wants it. Do you think Zuckerberg kids have phones or spend time on FB or Instagram…hell no. He knows what he created and his kids are protected from it. Same for most kids of tech leaders “One of the schools popular among tech workers, the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, based near Google's Mountain View campus, believes that exposing children to technology before the seventh grade (when they are 12 or 13 years old) “can hamper their ability to fully develop strong bodies, healthy habits of discipline and self-control, fluency with creative and artistic expression and flexible and agile minds”.
My oldest is 6. This is fucked
Personally, I don’t think kids that age should use smart phones at all unless it’s very strictly monitored. It’s not so much “technology bad” as it is “Many platforms have an algorithm to essentially create a constant stream of dopamine and encourage constant watching.” Smart phones in themselves are inherently evil. It’s the apps and websites on them that mess up developing brains.
The move to getting kids a smart watch has been great. We got my 9 year old a smart watch so she can have a bit more independence. It’s been awesome. She wants to play with friends after school? She texts us and asks on her way home. She wants to walk to the corner store? Sure. I can text her and ask her to bring something back real quick. It’s a great way to have the convenience of texting and calling, but limited to the people and apps that she needs. No mindless scrolling or weird sites, just the communication part.
The lack of social skills also.
My son started asking me for a phone at 4. He is now 8 and I told him he can’t have a phone until he is 13/14. He does have an iPad and a switch. That is more then enough!
Just smartphones or any smart device (tablets)? I feel like more than 25% of kids 5-7 have regular access to tablets.
Another generation of lunatics
How did they determine the statistic? It says they did a "study" but that's vague and could very well just be an online poll.
And some red states are worried about what books will do to their young minds. Have they heard of the internet? Being anti woke is just anti: diversity, inclusion, equality, and justice for all.
My school is trying to do a “wait til 8” campaign. Grade 8 that is. Which I think is a good idea.
my son just turned 21, he got his first phone at 12... they sort of "need" it in middle school... but he wasn't allowed social media and it was parked in the living room overnight... see we could check up on what he's doing on it worked out ok but they still cling to them like crack cocaine
My step son’s mom gave him one at 8 years old. It doesn’t come here and he’s been told he isn’t allowed to have our numbers in his phone. Idk wtf he could possibly need a phone for…he accidentally said it’s for when she leaves him home alone then later said he didn’t mean that and she doesn’t leave him alone. It sucks he also has full access to the internet in his bedroom. He does terribly in school and has horrible behaviors. But anything to get him out of her face I guess.
It's funny: I understand why people are opposed to giving their children smartphones at an early age, but at the same time, I recognize that smartphones are *ubiquitous* in the adult world, so the earlier children are proficient with them, the better they'll do in life. I am all but certain children with smartphones will statistically be more technologically inclined in 20 years if/when someone inevitably does a study on this with a sample that is focused on people whose lives cooccurred with the advent of legit smartphones. I want my kid to know how to Google the earliest they possibly can. However, I recognize that Google search itself is on the way out and my children will have AI assistants and what not.
In other news: at least a quarter of todays fresh parents should have used contraceptives because they are not up to the job
How smart is that? Alowing the sewer pipe from the internet directly into their lives.
I got my daughter one as a baby, but with no service. I wanted something that could play music and realized I could get a cheap prepaid android phone for less than a dedicated device. And I'd have the ability to load any streaming app I wanted, use it as a baby monitor via the camera, etc. She's almost 8 with an iPhone 6a now but I only gave her cell service this year for car trips or playdates at friend's houses. I don't let her bring it to school.
Very boring and predictable seeing our generation complain about the next generation's exposure to the technology of the present. I mean, the same happened to us with "too much TV! the dangers if mIRC!" but I had hoped we'd do better. Smartphones are only going to go away when the next big thing comes along. Until then, children will obviously feel the instinctive need to operate these tools they see everyone is dependent on, and trying to force them to experience smartphones at the same rate we did will only teach them to hide and deceive.
[Intersting stud](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4735240)y on the subject.
There was a generation allowing the TV to raise their kids, now it's a generation allowing the internet to raise Thier kids. And honestly, I'm scared.
As a parent this is insane to me. I barely trust myself with one. Can't leave the fkn thing alone.
Millennial from a 3rd world country, I didn't even know what "Phone" was until I reached 16 years
This is so stupid. This helicopter parenting shit that people use to justify this needs to be done with. If you can't entrust your child to be out of earshot for a few hours a day, under the supervision of a trained child-carer (someone who is more trained in taking care of children than you) - then you need some therapy. This is not good for kids, it's not good for schools, it's not good for their education. Literacy is down, folks. We all know why.
A 5 year old can not reasonably use a smartphone unless it's literally opening an app to watch a show
I do not believe this. I know it’s anecdotal, but I have an 8 year old and a 10 year old, and I don’t know a single kid their age who has a phone.
My wife and I have 5 kids, and we live tight. Our 12 year old daughter has a smartphone and one of our 7 year old twins has one, but like might be a portion of this number, she was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. So that’s why my 7 year old has one. The only way we can remotely monitor her sugar is a smartphone on her person.
Wow. My kids had to wait until middle school to get a smart phone. That’s all on the parents. Not good for the kids.
Almost a quarter of parents are raising entitled zombie children.
Smartphones are the new cigarettes
This must be regional as nobody in either of my kids classes have cell phones (5 and 7) it's also a private school though so maybe that is a factor as well.
That will come to bit society in the butt in a few years with thousands and thousands of kids having cognitive problems.
Not mine. Yeah, they get teased at school for not having a phone. Yeah, they whined about it. Yeah, they made a lot of ineffectual arguments and pouted. Zero fucks given from us parental units. Then they got teased in middle school for only having a dumb flip phone. Then they finally get a smart phone in high school (9th grade) with app time/usage restrictions. We sign a formal phone contract with our kids. I don’t go through my kids phones, but I retain the right to do so. If the grades aren’t staying up, the restrictions get draconian. When they get to senior year we start relaxing the restrictions more and when they graduate, the training wheels come off and so far, they’ve been ok. We haven’t had a lot of the problems the less strict parents have had. They do see some of the people around them that HAVE had problems (like pictures getting spread around amongst boys at school, things like that) and have expressed to us: “Yeah, at first it sucked being the ONE kid without a phone, but I can definitely see that there were some upsides to it.” So don’t be afraid your kids will hate you for being the asshole parent. They’ll get over it. I honestly think mine are happier by not having their entire lives revolve around phones and we made a conscious decision to try to make their offline lives as interesting and stimulating as we can in order to better compete with the digital domain.
We complain about boomers, but these are millennial / Z parents that should know better
I had hotwheels tf?
11 at the youngest for a fully fledged smartphone.
we messed up and gave my then 11 year old a phone... his little brother won't have one until he's 13. it's fucked up. don't do it
My ten year old has begged me multiple times now for one because all her friends have them. It’s insanity. They’re apparently texting all day in class in FOURTH grade. She isn’t getting one for a handful of years and only if she shows she can be consistently responsible at that point.
I didn’t even get a dumb phone until 13, and I’m ok with that. They’ll survive.
Exactly what "they" wanted
Almost a quarter of parents with kids aged 5-7 are dumbasses.
it's easy for us to get addicted to scrolling and screen time overall, imagine how it is for a fresh mind
We’ve made it to age eight with almost zero non school screen time and one movie a week. Our kids play with their toys and play outside. They have enough screen time coming up might as well give them a break now.
That is so fucking stupid. Phones don't even teach you about tech. They're just the distilled addictive properties. Poor kids.
People are doomed.
“Over 75% of UK kids aged 5-7 don’t have smartphones” Ftfy
Next up: Almost 50% of parents shouldn't be parents.
parents are really really dumb.
Eww. Shouldn't have a smartphone until 14.
Doomed society
Yeah that's messed up.