28 points

You definitely see a difference in children who are regularly given phones to keep them occupied. They’re just so much more hyper active. I know a lot of teachers have been complaining about phone use in the classrooms. In Canada they just started rolling back against rules saying teachers can’t confiscate phones.

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76 points

Please don’t give kids smartphones period. A smart watch is far less addictive and just as valuable to parents and kids (parents can track location, kids can still make phone calls and txt.) other suggestions are a dumb phone (think t9 txting), or just let them go phoneless.

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26 points

Don’t they require smart phones to work though? All the ones I have had are all just BT devices which require a phone to do anything beyond tell the time

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41 points

There are several cellular capable watches.

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6 points

My Samsung watch works without a phone on Google Fi network. Watches get a free line.

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27 points

I don’t think going phoneless would be a great idea because emergencies happen and people need to communicate but society would probably be better if kids weren’t glued to smartphone apps and social media from a young age. The smart watch or dumb phone idea makes sense to me though.

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12 points
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The emergency argument can be managed by not giving kids a smart phone with internet aceess. Easy

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11 points

Or just give them a dumb phone.

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4 points

Anyone have a recommendation for a decent kids smartwatch with cell service? I got my son a Garmin Bounce and the text and the service sucked so we returned it.

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4 points

You can find older Apple Watches for fairly cheap, I paid 10 bucks a month on T-Mobile for just the watch plan.

You would need to have an iPhone in order to manage it but you can manage a watch for a kid that way. They have school mode for them so it just acts as a watch with emergency contact action at school.

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12 points
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Deleted by creator
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23 points

Those watches with tracking built in are certainly popular in my area, but I absolutely refuse to use it. Kidnapping just isn’t a thing (the majority of kidnappings is by a trusted family member/friend), and I don’t think kids should get accustomed to someone constantly looking over their shoulder. I’ve gotten my kids “smart” watches (fun Minecraft watches with built-in games and whatnot), and there’s no tracking or internet access whatsoever.

If kids need to call, they can ask a trusted adult to borrow a phone. If I trust my kid, they can borrow my spare. Kids don’t need a phone of their own until they can at least get around on their own (e.g. driver’s license or parental permission to leave the neighborhood on their own), and for me, that’s like 14yo. I have a 10yo, and there’s no way I’m giving them a phone now or in the next year. They’re really responsible, but they don’t need it at all.

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4 points

Curious, what smart(-ish) watches did you get? Product recommendations appropriate in this discussion imho

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3 points

This Minecraft watch. There’s no network access whatsoever, but it feels like a smart watch with a camera, apps, games, etc. They really liked it, but it seems to not be very durable, and battery life is pretty poor (like a day or so). But if your kids want to feel like having a smart watch, but you don’t want to have all of the internet access stuff, I think it’s pretty good.

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31 points

Is it the phone, or the social media? The article only really mentions social media as the real issue.

Subsequently, does that mean social media on a computer is 100% A-OK? (this is a mobile phone carrier so it makes sense that they’d only focus on phones)

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3 points

Both.

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8 points
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Deleted by creator
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3 points

All smartphones can access social media. But they also have some really good (mostly intuitive) parental controls. So if you don’t want you kid on Facebook just block it.

What does it matter if the child is on a phone all day va on a computer all day? Sure you can’t really do that in class, but what about the other 16 hours of the day?

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-3 points

This is false information. You can limit what apps they have with safeguards with many different services. Google family, Samsung family share and Microsoft family all have limited app options where you can let through whatever you think is good enough. You can also only allow a certain amount of hours for each app on a daily basis. There are so many safeguards if you look it’s not difficult.

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1 point
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-1 points

Make parents less entitled. Problem solved.

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47 points

Get the kids a dumb phone instead. Calls and texts are more than enough in an emergency

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12 points

When I went to price it out at the store, the line for a dumb phone was going to cost $30/mo more than a smart phone. It was dumb.

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19 points
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Deleted by creator
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11 points

I’m in the US and can get a simple plan for $6/month for no data, 300 minutes, and unlimited texting. Unlimited minutes is $8. There’s no contract, so this isn’t some kind of family deal, this is just the regular price at Tello for a single line.

I personally have 1GB and 300 min for $7/month.

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-1 points

If the new dumb phones also came with Google Family Link for tracking then it would be a win. But they don’t. As a parent, having the ability to track my kids when I know they’re heading to or from somewhere is a big deal. And no, it’s not an issue of trust.

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5 points

Give them a phone with no play store or browser. If they get apks over mms or adb I think they’ve earned them

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5 points

I’d argue that is still an issue of trust, but maybe more concerning society / the local neighborhood.

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