Anyone not have a phone in Y7 these days?

104 replies

Areyouactuallyserious · 10/11/2022 23:33

My child’s friends all have phones, some since y5, the remaining now in y6. All use social media, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok etc. Ideally I wouldn’t want my child to have a phone until secondary and no social media until 13. Is that realistic at all or do I need to manage my expectations? Trying to balance the harm of phones/social media against the harm of being excluded from something that is increasingly the norm.
Thanks!

OP posts:

Whycanineverever · 11/11/2022 06:40

Also think about keeping up with old primary friends if at a different school - mine still cuts with them all.

TeenDivided · 11/11/2022 06:14

They probably 'need' a smartphone, but they don't need every social media app going, and they will need you to monitor use.
Also schools have different attitude to phones. Some actively use them in lessons, others ban the sight if them.

OldWivesTale · 11/11/2022 00:07

I think your child will be a social pariah if they don't have a smart phone at high school. It's very sad and I hate that it's like this but it is.

SweetsAndChocolates · 10/11/2022 23:43

If they need a phone in y7, it doesn't need to be a smart phone. I would have ideally given DS a simple phone but he ended up with a hand me down (older version iPhone).
He's said some in his year have social media apps, and others don't, no one seems to think any differently. The only thing is, some won't be on the WhatsApp form group- but that doesn't make a difference as it's a very quiet group (thankfully )

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