Do your children have smartphones?

[Long slender neck]

All my children have smartphones.
I have no qualms about them spending as much time as they want on them
They're all in their thirties, & it's up to them how they spend their time!

Have they been radicalised too?

[Pugwash]

The answer has to be from a health angle.

Social media access can affect anyone's mental health, but for it to be inflicted on children so young is cruel and damaging. Kids can go through enough peer pressure and bullying when they're at school but, thanks to smartphones, they don't even get to escape it when they're at home. And many of these apps are designed to tap into the brain's dopamine response and manipulate the user's behaviour. There's a reason why so many of these tech-billionaires don't let their own children use them.

2nd & 3rd gen's are being switched off next year. Only smarts will be working so I've heard.

Not true

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-bro ... witch-off/

Also note that dumbphones now tend to have 4g

So its just Tesco next year then. Upgraded my Grandsons last month for his 8th birthday.

[Currywurst and Chips]

If we’re limiting smart phones to young children we should also limit boarding to age groups as well

I think it’s fair that we say no under 18s? And then maybe no over 65s?

[Hoover Attack]

If we’re limiting smart phones to young children we should also limit boarding to age groups as well

I think it’s fair that we say no under 18s? And then maybe no over 65s?

Totally disapprove of an upper age limit.

[Dohnut]

Mine do. But they are 45 and 50.

[Mick McQuaid]

So much worse than donkey kong.

Full of ads, microtransactions, loot boxes (gambling), inappropriate material and that's before you consider that the game itself is often just absolute crap.

And if its something online like roblox it can be infested with paedophiles

The only online stuff he plays is splatoon and mario maker on the switch, which he normally does on the TV in front of me. The worst he's experienced is someone saying a course he made was crap.

I'm not completely blase about it but my general view is trying to instill some resilience and responsibility is better than just trying to shield him from it, he's going to see far worse in the playground at senior school in just a few years time and going to have to deal with it without my knowledge, so isn't it better that he some experience of it rather than being massively excited about the lure of what's on someone else's phone?

From the moment they're born it's a slow process of letting go and hopefully getting the end result of someone who can deal with what life throws at them and be reasonably happy.

I definitely give a bit more freedom and resposibility than most of his friends parents, I don't know if it's just his character or a result of that which means he's confident in most situations, and (I think) rarely hides what he's been up to from me. I'm far from perfect and I'm sure I'll have inadvertently f*cked him up in some way but that bit at least seems to work for us.

[Long slender neck]

Nintendo is great, its mobile/tablet games industry which is awful.

[LittleMate]

Mine are now 24 and 21, but back in the iphone 5 days they got a smartphone probably aged 12, having been given a dumb phone when they went to secondary school.

Until 16 they put their phones (and ipads) downstairs before bed. They have now gone through the social media obsession but are both active users when they want/need to be. Their phones, ipads and laptops are now used as devices for media - mainly Netflix. They are products of society I'm sad to say - but they are not like many we've all seen that are head down on their phones in restaurants and public places.

I believe my kids will coach their kids away from devices, as their cousins who are 12, have been on the latest iphones since aged 5.

[EliotNes]

BTTT
Yes, at 35 and 33 they can buy their own

But seriously I’d be in favour of a total ban in schools

[Adz]

My 13 year old does, my 10 year old doesn't. 13 year old has whatsapp, but not Facebook, snapchat, tiktok, insta, x, threads, etc. Doesn't seem bothered that she doesn't have them and has never asked for them.

[JimbO]

My 13 year old does, my 10 year old doesn't. 13 year old has whatsapp, but not Facebook, snapchat, tiktok, insta, x, threads, etc. Doesn't seem bothered that she doesn't have them and has never asked for them.

she doesn't need to ask the age restrictions are easily circumnavigated.

[Adz]

My 13 year old does, my 10 year old doesn't. 13 year old has whatsapp, but not Facebook, snapchat, tiktok, insta, x, threads, etc. Doesn't seem bothered that she doesn't have them and has never asked for them.

she doesn't need to ask the age restrictions are easily circumnavigated.

She has an android with parental controls turned on (our deal to have a phone), so I can see still stalk her. She's happy enough with discord for most chatting, and apparently they all use the whatsapp status as an important communicating tool. She's not into doing videos and photos either. To be honest i'm not that bothered whether she has them as I know she's pretty responsible. My 10 year old is a different kettle of fish altogether, she's desperate for all that crap, and will be a nightmare with them all, and will definitely do what she can to circumnavigate any controls.

[ChorizO]

Still can’t fathom why parents want to give their children smartphones apart from succumbing to pressure and being crap in their roles. Am I missing something here?

[Long slender neck]

If they dont have one as a teenager then they're probably going to miss out socially. That and they're just essential for modern life now unfortunately.

[ChorizO]

If they dont have one as a teenager then they're probably going to miss out socially. That and they're just essential for modern life now unfortunately.

Agree about the teenagers but for the younger kids it seems madness.