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Only 3% of UK 12-year-olds don’t have a smartphone. Here is how four of them feel about it
The Guardian ^ | 23rd September 2024 | Amy Fleming

Posted on 09/23/2024 7:45:25 AM PDT by Cronos

two concerned parents created the group Smartphone Free Childhood.

what do the pioneering minority of smartphone-free children make of all this?

Annabel, 13 I’m the only person I know who doesn’t have a smartphone. I know they’re quite addictive. Some of my friends are on Snapchat a lot – one of them has 3hr screen-time limit on her phone and she uses up the whole thing with Snapchat. Some of my other friends, when we’re together, scroll on TikTok or YouTube, and I feel quite left out.

Sometimes my friends communicate with people they haven’t met before from a different school, so I think social media is a good way of finding people. But it also has negatives, because you can come into contact with people you don’t want to speak with, although I don’t know anyone who has been bullied online. If there’s a person they don’t know, they usually block them.

One of the positives is that I’m more connected to my friends in the real world, I’m on some WhatsApp groups on my mum’sphone, which helps me connect with, say, the class group chat.

I do feel like having a smartphone would distract me from other things.

Henry, 11 I got a smartphone when I turned 11 and then my mum took it away, because she said my attitude got a lot worse when I’d been looking at it and it caused arguments. She’d tell me to stop and then I wouldn’t stop, because I wanted to complete this level of a game, or finish talking to my friends.

Mikey, 11 I haven’t got a smartphone, because my parents think there are too many dangers. I don’t knowwhat they are; they won’t tell me. I think they should at least tell me what the dangers are.

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


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: smartphone; uk
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To: Kinzua

21 posted on 09/23/2024 9:31:45 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: AlaskaErik

“The stupid people are the ones who don’t understand how much a smart phone can do for them.”

I wouldn’t say that. Just disconnected from the reality of how unsafe it really is out there now for children. It is not mayberry out there anymore. There is a sexual predator on every corner.


22 posted on 09/23/2024 9:33:10 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

How did we ever survive before cellphones?


23 posted on 09/23/2024 9:35:14 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Openurmind

That’s quite the rationalization. I’m not rich but we survived on one income while my wife stayed home with our kids. No cable TV or smart phones; we conversed, read out loud, listened to audio books, enjoyed the outdoors, and provided our children with a great education at home (high quality cyber school). Open your mind, our choices are not dictated by society.


24 posted on 09/23/2024 9:39:13 AM PDT by Kinzua (What have we allowed to happen?)
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To: dfwgator

“How did we ever survive before cellphones?”

We had phone booths... Seen one lately?

We can’t compare then with now. Look around you, times have changed. Lawlessness is now the norm. Children are not safe in this world like they were back in our world of past.

And for their safety a cellphone is both a deterrent and self defense from criminals who would do them harm. I used to feel the same until too many close calls have happened to my own Grandchildren. If they hadn’t had a phone they would have been in serious trouble.


25 posted on 09/23/2024 9:44:15 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: dfwgator

That’s exactly what I see. We opted out. I have many nieces and nephews who went the whole smart phone route. We were mocked and derided. Now that the fruits of both options are plain to see no one is laughing.


26 posted on 09/23/2024 9:44:42 AM PDT by Kinzua (What have we allowed to happen?)
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To: Kinzua

“I’m not rich but we survived on one income while my wife stayed home with our kids.”

That was back when? Kids these days just can’t in this current economy. Both parents are forced to work if they want to survive financially, especially if they have kids. Again, we can’t compare then to what challenges they have now.

All my kids are in the medical industry and make good money. But even with all of them working they are still living paycheck to paycheck just to barely survive financially and support their own kids.

Not sure you have a grasp of what it really is like out there now. Far too many live in the past and judge situations by the past. The way things were is not how they are now.


27 posted on 09/23/2024 9:54:03 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

Our children’s grandparents have many grandkids. Our children were the only ones without smart phones. The grandparents routinely questioned our judgment. The cousins made fun and laughed. Now that most of the children are grown the grandparents wish that all the children were raised without the phones. I’m not judging, only giving my testimony.


28 posted on 09/23/2024 9:54:13 AM PDT by Kinzua (What have we allowed to happen?)
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To: Openurmind

I’m living it now. One’s a senior in high school, the other is a freshman at University. We’ve had to make deep sacrifices as to our standard of living obviously. The senior is being solicited by Ivy League schools. I’m not just bragging but sincerely pointing out that there are options and that society and our perceived place in it do not dictate our choices.


29 posted on 09/23/2024 10:02:46 AM PDT by Kinzua (What have we allowed to happen?)
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To: Kinzua

And here is my testimony. A registered sex offender was following kids to the bus stop. The police would not do anything because it was the word of the kids against his. No evidence. My Granddaughter videoed him doing it with her smartphone and he went to jail.

Without that video he would still be stalking those kids to the bus stop or worse. Turns out he was the one who just a few months prior killed an 11 year old girl just over the hill. He was identified by DNA after he was busted by my Granddaughter.

THAT is our new reality and it is dangerous out there for children. THAT is why our kids have cellphones and we know where they are at all times. THAT is why our kids can dial 911 at the drop of a hat.


30 posted on 09/23/2024 10:11:14 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

That is a powerful testimony. I’m very glad that it worked out that way for your family. However, I think that most children and adults use their phones far too much for frivolous and unhealthy things and that this has a profoundly negative impact on society and particularly our children.


31 posted on 09/23/2024 10:25:19 AM PDT by Kinzua (What have we allowed to happen?)
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To: Kinzua

Is your house paid off? Are your cars paid off? Are you paying out over 1,300 dollars a month just for health insurance for your family? 1,500 a month mortgage, 1,000 a month for the two vehicles need to keep jobs and shuttle kids? Or 1,000 dollars a month for daycare on two? Food for six?

You have wrongfully automatically assumed they are wasteful spenders and not responsible with their finances. They are very frugal and practical and still barely getting by every month. If one parent quit their job they would have to give up everything and go on welfare.


32 posted on 09/23/2024 10:29:55 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

Our conversation has gone off the rails. I’m not judging your children. I intended to share my experience and my belief that kids are better off without smart phones. I then expressed my opinion that it isn’t always necessary to resign ourselves to what we perceive as the zeitgeist of the times. No offense offered. Only a living thing can swim against the current.


33 posted on 09/23/2024 10:40:38 AM PDT by Kinzua (What have we allowed to happen?)
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To: Openurmind

Good point.

Note that a simple phone with call and SMS facilities would suffice for the situation you describe.

As a parent of teens, I can vouch that smartphone apps are distractive and overall bad for kids.

As to the parental controls - they are easily hackable.


34 posted on 09/24/2024 12:00:55 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Responsibility2nd

As I said above, we need to differentiate between a simple phone (or “dumb phone” or “feature phone”) that is basically calls + SMS (and a camera and a couple of other stuff) v/s a smartphone.

A Smartphone is basically a computer in your pocket. That is useful, but when coupled with social media which is ubiquitous, it is really bad for teens and even worse for pre-teens


35 posted on 09/24/2024 12:08:34 AM PDT by Cronos
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