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AIBU?

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Original poster

To not let 13 year old have TT or SC

206 replies

Yope · 26/10/2024 22:14

I'm really against it.
He's 13, school year 8.
Everything in me says don't let him have these yet. Nor Instagram.
He's got WhstsApp. That's enough. He doesn't need social media at his age.
The way I see it is, the more of this stuff they have on their phones , the more they will be exposed to and the more social shit they'll have to deal with.
But he's getting mocked for it by mates.
A lot.
And this morning I saw a message sent from a mutual friend to another mutual friend with a crying laughing emoji and a piss taking comment about my DS not being allowed to have SM.
I'm not saying never.
I'm just saying not yet.
AIBU?

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Hankunamatata · 26/10/2024 22:22

Snap chat nope. I did a post on here a while back asking and it was a resounding no. High school have asked it to removed from all kids phones.

Mine do have tik tok with parents controls and time limits

Noseybookworm · 26/10/2024 22:22

I can totally understand why you want to keep him off social media. Unfortunately he is going to feel left out if all of his friends communicate this way. I think you have to balance the risks against him being ostracised by his peer group. Can you allow him to have the apps but make it clear that it's under supervision and remove the phone a couple of hours before bed so he has some time away from it too?

TheQuietestSpace · 26/10/2024 22:21

I agree with you.

Could he have an account but on your phone? And agreed time on it in the evenings? That would feel like a middle ground.

Original poster
Yope · 26/10/2024 22:20

TheSilkWorm · 26/10/2024 22:17

This is the world they live in. Better to teach them how to navigate it than try to protect them from it by withholding. All teens communicate on Snapchat now. It's their version of WhatsApp. None of them use WhatsApp, you're causing him to be left out of all out of school communication with friends.

This isn't true.
All his mates WhatsApp him daily. And he's on multiple different active WhattsApp groups. There were 50 new messages on one of them this evening.
Don't tell me kids don't use WhattsApp. It's false.

OP posts:
paddyclampster · 26/10/2024 22:19

YABU. It's your DS who is losing out and getting the piss taken out of him. Let him have it before he gets any more left out!

TheSilkWorm · 26/10/2024 22:17

This is the world they live in. Better to teach them how to navigate it than try to protect them from it by withholding. All teens communicate on Snapchat now. It's their version of WhatsApp. None of them use WhatsApp, you're causing him to be left out of all out of school communication with friends.