Going into year 6, What tech do you allow?

[Pombearbuffet]

Just wondering what other parents have allowed and how you feel about it.

Does your child have their own phone?
Do they use tic tok?
Are they in WhatsApp groups?
Do you monitor what they say to their friends?
How does this compare to the rest of their class?

I’ll start, DD has a laptop and an old iPod she can FaceTime her friends on. She doesn’t have tic tok. I read her texts every couple of days.

Many of her friends have now got their own phone, use tic tok and WhatsApp. Just wondering if I’m out of touch?

[RedCatBlueCat]

Going into Y6, DS had a tablet, and an email account (set up because we moved at the end of Y5, and there were a couple of people he wanted to keep in touch with). Many of his year group had phones.
11th birthday - during lockdown- he got a phone, and has whatsapp. He doesnt show any interest in tic tok.
Yes, I monitor his email and WhatsApp.

[Saisong]

No phones yet - will get one on start of secondary.

Has access to a laptop which was for home schooling, but heavily monitored.

Has supervised access to Zoom for contacting friends.

Has a Nintendo switch, but no network access.

[StressedOutTFF]

My daughter has an iPhone with tiktok, Instagram, WhatsApp as well as a laptop which she uses for school work mostly. I have all her passwords and check now and again. Clearly many parents don't check as some of the girls on the WhatsApp groups are bloody horrible to each other. When they were younger I've stepped in once or twice to coach DD how to deal with it but she can handle things well herself now

[Rollercoasteride]

DS had my old phone last month, he has WhatsApp but only has mine and his dads number on it, he can add his friends, but hasn't bothered

He has xbox, which he chats to his friends and family on. The xbox is downstairs so can hear the conversations.

He doesn't have tik tok, I know lots of the girls in his class do though...I think they like doing dance routines

[formyboys]

Turning ten soon. No phone. No social media. It isn't used in his year group by boys anyway. Has access to internet in the home on my laptop but I don't alllow YouTube. Xbox and switch is allowed. During term time weekends only. During lockdown we did a bit of FaceTiming friends but not much - plenty of gaming!!I won't be buying his own phone until much much later. Maybe secondary.

[WhenDoISleep]

My eldest is going into y7. Last September when going into y6 he had no tech at all - he wasn't the only one without a phone in his year, but probably one of the few without at least one gaming device. We live so close to school I can see it, so him walking alone to school didn't concern me. I was perfectly happy with my decision - the intention was for him to get a phone towards the latter part of the summer term.

Lockdown necessitated some changes - he now has his own computer (became necessary for online schooling during lockdown) with email (for contacting family only) and has been using Skype (to contact grandparents), Zoom (Outschool classes, a couple of online courses and Scouts) and MS Teams (for school). The computer is on his desk in his room - the door must be open at all times. He got his first mobile phone just this week - as he will be walking 45mins to secondary school from Wednesday. He has WhatsApp but TikTok is not allowed. He also has a Kindle (old, basic model) - which I control the content on as it is linked to my account.

He doesn't have a tablet and no gaming devices (occasionally uses DH's Switch).

The phone is not allowed in the bedroom and I have full access to both his computer and phone at all times. All devices have rigorous controls installed and are controlled by either DH or me.

[LER83]

My ds only has an ipad. I believe he is one of only a handful of children in his year who doesn't have a phone/some sort of social media (I've seen his friends YouTube channels etc). He plays roblox on his ipad and know he chats to friends on that. He has access to a playstation and games like fortnite which I know the boys play, but he's not really into it. He is one of the young ones though and only turned 10 last week and I don't think he is mature enough to handle WhatsApp etc. Will reasses the phone at Christmas, he is desperate for an iPhone!

[UncomfortableSilence]

DD going into Y6 has a laptop which she manly uses for practising animation and an iPad. She is part of a class group chat on iMessage but has no other social media.

I have an older teen and am well aware of the negative aspects and will hold off as long as possible. She will get a phone at the same time her sister did in the last term of primary in preparation for Y7.

She's in the minority in her class though, when we met at the park recently she wanted to play and her friends were filming themselves doing TikTok dances

[DinosApple]

My just about to go into yr 7 11yo got my old phone earlier this month.

She has WhatsApp and a game or two. Not TikTok.

I check her messages maybe once a week, more often as I think about it. It's the mixed group chats that I have to watch in her case.

To be quite honest, after all the pestering she was quite overwhelmed with the number of messages. I showed her how to mute it, and said that she doesn't have to check it until she wants to.

Not everyone's child will be like that, but it is something to be aware of. DD1 isn't very mature, but she did 'need' WhatsApp because that's how her friends communicate out of school.

[DinosApple]

Oh, other tech old laptop from Yr 6, access to iPad, PC, Xbox and switch.

Lockdown lead to all screen times being readjusted.

[AbsenceOfBlinkinLight]

Locked down phone (no internet browser, no camera, no social media, no access to App Store). Certainly no WhatsApp, TikTok, Insta etc. Used it to text me when leaving school so I knew to expect her in 10 minutes, and not much else.

She got a lot more unlocked in Y7, but still no social media.

[AbsenceOfBlinkinLight]

And although many people said she would have to have WhatsApp at secondary school to make friends, it turns out real friends will text her. All she misses out on is the group WhatsApp drama.

[Callybrid]

@AbsenceOfBlinkinLight - how did you disable all the features you didn’t want your dc to use?

Us - DD just started P6 (similar age to Y6 in England) has no phone yet but uses my phone to Whatsapp a couple of friends and overseas cousins, and has a chromebook for school work, which is rarely touched otherwise and lives downstairs. We also have a Switch which the whole family use, but we don’t do anything online with it. We watch YouTube through the TV if there’s something they want to look up but not on small screens.

[AbsenceOfBlinkinLight]

@Callybrid Worked my way through this (it’s an iPhone): support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201304

Also you can do stuff with VPNs and via your home router to restrict internet access.

[Callybrid]

Thanks Absence!