Mobile phone or not?

[Dilraj68]

So my 11 year old is starting high school which is around the corner from us and a five minute walk. Her adult siblings have mobiles and she constantly uses mine for Tiktok and WhatsApp. I feel she's too young and impressionable for mobiles but her argument is that her entire class have one. When she's on the laptop doing her homework, she gets distracted and watches YouTube etc and falls behind with her work. I simply find it hard to trust her. On the other hand I want her to stay in touch with her friends over the summer as she won't see them again. I don't want her to feel so left out My other children suggested a cheap basic smartphone which would be strictly monitored by me and password protected. Also it'd be with me at bedtime. But my friends think I'm being unreasonable. Is 11 an OK age?

Yes. She'll probably be left out of loads at secondary if she doesn't have one. Get the google family app which gives you full control and you can ban it til homework is done if you're worried about the distraction

We got DS1 one for his 11th birthday and we'll be doing the same for DS2. It's not just for the school journey (in our case that's important as he's an hour away and if he misses the then we can collect hi,) but also if your daughter goes to visit a friend, or just to keep in touch with her friends. We have very strict controls (strict filters for all of us at router level) and parental controls on the phone. You can do it safely without her feeling left out and the only one without a phone.

I'd get the phone