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What's the right age to get a smartphone?
BBC.com ^ | 14th September 2022 | By Kelly Oakes

Posted on 09/25/2022 5:23:02 PM PDT by thecodont

It is a very modern dilemma. Should you hand your child a smartphone, or keep them away from the devices as long as possible?

As a parent, you'd be forgiven for thinking of a smartphone as a sort of Pandora's box with the ability to unleash all the world's evils on your child's wholesome life. The bewildering array of headlines relating to the possible impact of children's phone and social media use are enough to make anyone want to opt out. Apparently, even celebrities are not immune to this modern parenting problem: Madonna has said that she regretted giving her older children phones at age 13, and wouldn't do it again.

On the other hand, you probably have a phone yourself that you consider an essential tool for daily life – from emails and online shopping, to video calls and family photo albums. And if your child's classmates and friends are all getting phones, won't they miss out without one?

There are still many unanswered questions on the long-term effects of smartphones and social media on children and teenagers, but existing research provides some evidence on their main risks and benefits.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 200amonth; 2022; braincancer; cellphone; family; flipphone; landline; oldpeople; smartphone; socialmedia
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To: SamAdams76

Why Mr Adams, you’re bringing back memories of freedom.


41 posted on 09/25/2022 5:52:20 PM PDT by stanne
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To: Jyotishi

“not above 90 in many cases.”

Mom is 98 and is worse than a teenager with her cell phone.


42 posted on 09/25/2022 5:52:50 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It amazes me how much "exercise" and "extra fries" sound alike.)
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To: thecodont

52.


43 posted on 09/25/2022 5:52:56 PM PDT by SuzyQue
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To: thecodont

I still don’t want a smartphone


44 posted on 09/25/2022 5:52:58 PM PDT by algore
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To: Chickensoup

I concur, 18+ ... as soon as they can afford one and sign the plan without any cosigners.


45 posted on 09/25/2022 5:53:10 PM PDT by CapnJack ( )
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To: stanne

Really? My idea was good? I don’t have kids, but that idea made sense to me.


46 posted on 09/25/2022 5:54:16 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It amazes me how much "exercise" and "extra fries" sound alike.)
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To: KingLudd

It is not about money. It is about human development. They need to learn to socialize in their teens. They’re in a different phase of development at that time. People need to learn to speak face to face before they can manage alternate forms of communication


47 posted on 09/25/2022 5:55:04 PM PDT by stanne
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To: Drew68

My grandson turned 12 yesterday and his parents gave him one of their old phones, an iPhone 6. He’s a straight A student who is in the gifted program. He goes to a charter school where kids can only access the school intranet during school hours. If he doesn’t follow the rules his parents have set for the phone, his dad will take it away, believe me.


48 posted on 09/25/2022 5:55:43 PM PDT by Prince of Space (Let’s Go, Brandon! )
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To: thecodont

65


49 posted on 09/25/2022 5:56:33 PM PDT by Osage Orange
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To: Persevero

“ A smart phone is a porn conduit”

Oh. And there’s that.


50 posted on 09/25/2022 5:56:38 PM PDT by stanne
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To: Beowulf9

Aren’t smartphone prices like up close to 200/mo? or something?

*************

Be careful out on the roadways. Keep an eye out for the
‘smart phones’. Dey may be heading your way. We are
closer to self driving cars but not quite there yet.


51 posted on 09/25/2022 5:56:38 PM PDT by deport
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To: SamAdams76
...my parents would never know who I saw, what I did and where I was. Unless I wanted to tell them.

You may have thought they didn't know. After I was grown and had moved out, I was surprised to find out how much my parents had known about what the six of us kids were up to. The neighborhood housewives' surveillance and intelligence network could have taught some things to the KGB and Stasi.

A lot of the time, my parents' attitude was, "Meh, he learned a lesson and didn't suffer permanent harm, so what the hell."

52 posted on 09/25/2022 5:56:38 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: stanne

I started on the computer in 1989.

When my kids were in about 6-7th grade (late 90s) I bought them 2 computer games.

My daughter didn’t like them and went back to books.

My son loved his chess program, got on his college chess team and ended up with a PhD in AI.

They didn’t get flip phones until high school.

Face to face is the way to go.


53 posted on 09/25/2022 5:56:59 PM PDT by lizma2
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To: stanne; thecodont

I went to work full time when I was 15, had to lie about my age to get it. I even had two jobs at the same time back then, one full time in the day and a part time job at night. I bought my first car before I was even eligible age wise for a driver’s license. A ‘56 Chevy Nomad by the way (Sweet!). I grew up fast, but you had to in my house. It was sink or swim.

I definitely would have been responsible enough to have my own phone if they would have been available. Kids today? I don’t know about.


54 posted on 09/25/2022 5:57:33 PM PDT by Bullish (Rot'sa Ruck America. )
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To: thecodont

I’m sorry, but I’m not sure if those folks saying “18” are residing on planet Earth in 2022. Any family with a kid in high school is aware that smartphone penetration of the teen market is close to 100%, with the Apple iphone having maybe 90% of that. Maybe there are some homeschooling kids out there who don’t have or need smartphones, but in 2022 if you’re a normal teen going to a normal school, you likely have an iphone. We can gnash our teeth all we want about how costly and inappropriate this, but it’s just reality whether we like it or not. To the folks on here insisting, “I don’t care what everyone else is doing; I would never let my teen have a smartphone,” my response: Uh, huh, sure. Talk is cheap. Call us back when you actually have a teen in 2022 and let us know how that’s going.


55 posted on 09/25/2022 5:58:10 PM PDT by irishjuggler
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To: MayflowerMadam

Oh yes ma’am. Don’t let people tell you you don’t know what to do with kids just because you don’t have any. My best ideas came from my teenage memories, a few intelligent priests who came fro big families and listened to confessions all Saturday afternoons and a childless great aunt who interacted with people.

Besides that- common sense.


56 posted on 09/25/2022 6:00:42 PM PDT by stanne
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To: Chickensoup

Agree. Our children get a phone when they are 18 and have a job and can pay for it 100% themselves. Until then, they can use the “Family Spare Phone” on occasions when they need it to, say, call for a ride when an event of indeterminate duration ends.


57 posted on 09/25/2022 6:02:22 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: thecodont

Well, I’m 77 and I still don’t have (or need) one, so there’s MY answer.


58 posted on 09/25/2022 6:02:38 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
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To: MayflowerMadam

And yes. That’s what we did. Successfully.


59 posted on 09/25/2022 6:03:22 PM PDT by stanne
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To: thecodont
If before 18 or able to pay for it themselves, make them earn the privilege to have one, and make it clear that if they misbehave, it will be taken away.
Learn how to disable the phone remotely if they don't surrender it.
No replacement if lost or broken.
Availability of apps and features should be age appropriate.
Make them earn that too.

And after 18 and they get a phone and plan that they can't afford, don't pay it for them.
I'd avoid family plans, my kid used up the entire monthly data limit in a week, leaving nothing for the wife and I.

60 posted on 09/25/2022 6:05:24 PM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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