That story is incredibly disturbing…
Only one 11-year-old girl in an entire class did not have a smartphone…?
How long has smartphone ownership and normalized for that age? What age did they first get them?
That’s got to be wreaking havoc on their developing minds…to say nothing of their social development.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, go long on pharma.
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.
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.
My kids are in similar situation but now 12 and it is not about stopping access anymore but fostering good habits. I still have app type and time limits but they are clever and figure ways around but still ask me if they can do things. I think it works
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.
Off topic, but it’s very funny to me that you think you have full access to your phone.
You know what they fuckin meant, ya dweeb.
Yeah
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!
Pretty sure kids get phones before they can speak these days. Because flashy lights keep them entertained when otherise they’ll just yell and scream.
These people are supposed to be experts in child development.
Completely irresponsible for the school to be encouraging 11 year olds to have smart phones.
All studies about this are still too recent to have reached your common school. Teachers fall exactly in the age span of people that can’t let go of their phones in an almost unhealthy way and probably were pretty excited, when they found this game online - to share with the kids.
That’s just my impression though
IANAL OR AP NOR AE
Ap nor ae?
Gonna guess,
not a lawyer, a parent, nor an educator.
Is probably what the abbreviations are for, given the context.
A q p
Most teachers are aware how bad smartphones are, at least from the surveys I’ve seen. They’re more skeptical of them than parents or children. I think this case is kind of an outlier.
Fund education properly. That includes technology for students.
They offered her a laptop which would just single her out more.
Provide everyone laptops, or provide phones (tablets) for everyone.
I’m surprised everyone having laptops and using them for school isn’t standard. It’s been standard when I was in school here in Norway a decade ago
I find school issued devices problematic personally.
The school gets to monitor your kids constantly and they control what gets censored. Not to mention it can stigmatized low income families.
Ms Lewis said she began to feel “pressure” on parents to buy smartphones as her daughter left primary school, but decided not to over fears about how it might affect Ava’s mental health.
Capitalism has brainwashed people.
11? That is definitely too early.
It is reasonable with the proper setup and restrictions. Giving them unrestricted access to it all the time is problematic. It becomes straight up harmful when you throw in addictive and social apps.
My parents didn’t get me a phone until after they forgot to pick me up from school and I was left there for three hours. And even then it was a fliphone.
Honestly phones themselves aren’t the big issue. The problem is the software. I wish we had a stronger push to get kids F-droid and AOSP. While they aren’t perfect, the apps on F-droid should not exploit your kids.
Also web filtering
