Just because a kid has a phone, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have full access to it. My daughter has had her own phone since she was 3 years old, she is now 8 and still rarely gets access to her phone - maybe an hour a week on Saturday mornings or if we’re going on a long drive. There’s never any fights when she has to put it away, and she’s learning good device usage habits.
Better than most, privacy wise. Better than me, especially the pine phone (again, privacy wise). But still not solely your phone. The pine phone might be. You are on the right way though!
I’m unclear how your comment relates to the article, or my comment. Because even if I took you at your word, your anecdotal story would still seem to place you as an outlier, maybe.
Clearly an entire class of preteens, minus one girl, has full access to their smartphones, and I’m betting at least a portion of them had just as much access when they were 8 years old.
Also, not for nothing, but you might want to consider the possibility that a child’s usage and behaviors on a smart device might change once it becomes an unsupervised activity. Or maybe it won’t, I don’t know you or your child, so who am I to say.
I was providing context to your question about how long it’s been normalized and when kids get their first phones.
And yes, as a parent I know that I won’t be able to control everything my kid does as she ages, however I think by creating good habits and setting healthy boundaries it will help her make the right choices later in life.
I need your notes. My daughter is 2.5. I would appreciate if you can share your experience, how is it working, how you set the rules of engagement, etc.
I think it started with TV being regulated. At first we were strict about only giving her access to ‘educational’ shows, so a lot of PBS Kids shows like Daniel Tiger, but we also did YouTube channels like Super Simple Songs. We avoided anything too commercialized or designed to sell toys (Paw Patrol), but that caused issues when she went to preschool and didn’t know any of the shows and characters the other kids knew, so we relaxed a little, but treated Paw Patrol as a treat (she’d be limited to 30 minutes of it, but could then switch to something on PBS). And even PBS screen time was limited to certain times of the day. It never really became an issue because she never knew any other way.
For the phone, a few years ago on Google Fi it was actually the same price to have 3 lines as it was to have 2 lines, and I had an extra phone and so it just made sense to activate it so she had a phone to use in the car while we took a 12 hour car ride. It worked really well, and she knew that ‘her phone’ would always go right back in my pocket when she wasn’t using it. We also got her some Bluetooth headphones and we’ve taught her that her phone should not make any sound that anyone else can hear when we’re in public. We’re trying to find that balance between making sure she has the skills needed to use technology, but also doesn’t become dependent on it like the rest of us are. I’m not sure it will work in the long-term, but I do know that my family won’t be the ones behind you in a restaurant with the kid playing a loud game on her phone.
Just because a kid has a phone, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have full access to it. My daughter has had her own phone since she was 3 years old, she is now 8 and still rarely gets access to her phone - maybe an hour a week on Saturday mornings or if we’re going on a long drive. There’s never any fights when she has to put it away, and she’s learning good device usage habits.
Off topic, but it’s very funny to me that you think you have full access to your phone.
I mean, I have a Pixel 9 Pro running Graphene, but sure this isn’t like my Pine phone (which is fun to pay with but a slog as a daily driver).
Better than most, privacy wise. Better than me, especially the pine phone (again, privacy wise). But still not solely your phone. The pine phone might be. You are on the right way though!
For anyone wondering what the crazy person on the internet (me) is hinting at, even with the pine phone.
You know what they fuckin meant, ya dweeb.
Yeah
I’m unclear how your comment relates to the article, or my comment. Because even if I took you at your word, your anecdotal story would still seem to place you as an outlier, maybe.
Clearly an entire class of preteens, minus one girl, has full access to their smartphones, and I’m betting at least a portion of them had just as much access when they were 8 years old.
Also, not for nothing, but you might want to consider the possibility that a child’s usage and behaviors on a smart device might change once it becomes an unsupervised activity. Or maybe it won’t, I don’t know you or your child, so who am I to say.
I was providing context to your question about how long it’s been normalized and when kids get their first phones.
And yes, as a parent I know that I won’t be able to control everything my kid does as she ages, however I think by creating good habits and setting healthy boundaries it will help her make the right choices later in life.
I need your notes. My daughter is 2.5. I would appreciate if you can share your experience, how is it working, how you set the rules of engagement, etc.
I think it started with TV being regulated. At first we were strict about only giving her access to ‘educational’ shows, so a lot of PBS Kids shows like Daniel Tiger, but we also did YouTube channels like Super Simple Songs. We avoided anything too commercialized or designed to sell toys (Paw Patrol), but that caused issues when she went to preschool and didn’t know any of the shows and characters the other kids knew, so we relaxed a little, but treated Paw Patrol as a treat (she’d be limited to 30 minutes of it, but could then switch to something on PBS). And even PBS screen time was limited to certain times of the day. It never really became an issue because she never knew any other way.
For the phone, a few years ago on Google Fi it was actually the same price to have 3 lines as it was to have 2 lines, and I had an extra phone and so it just made sense to activate it so she had a phone to use in the car while we took a 12 hour car ride. It worked really well, and she knew that ‘her phone’ would always go right back in my pocket when she wasn’t using it. We also got her some Bluetooth headphones and we’ve taught her that her phone should not make any sound that anyone else can hear when we’re in public. We’re trying to find that balance between making sure she has the skills needed to use technology, but also doesn’t become dependent on it like the rest of us are. I’m not sure it will work in the long-term, but I do know that my family won’t be the ones behind you in a restaurant with the kid playing a loud game on her phone.