Does your preteen have internet access on their phone?

[MissAtomicBomb1]

DS is in Y7 and has an iPhone. He has WhatsApp and various games but we've set up limits to block safari so that he can't access the internet.
He's allowed internet access via the family iPad or supervised on my phone.
Since starting secondary he's been constantly nagging to have it. Apparently all of his friends have it & the teachers encourage them to use it when they need to Google or research in lessons as the school laptops are slow.
I've resisted so far but I'm interested to know if other children if his age have it. Do the filters that you can put on actually work?
If not, What age do you think you would let them have it?

Mine is in Y6 and does not have a phone, but several of her friends (in Y6) do.

Best I can tell there are no limits on anything (judging by the messages and Facetime calls she seems to receive to her ipad, which we only even allow her to have on weekends, in the middle of the night on a random Wednesday). 🙄I suspect there is a correlation between parents who get their child a phone in Y5/6 and lax Internet use rules.

Personally, I think what you're doing is absolutely appropriate, given his age. If the school internet is slow, this needs to be raised with leadership by teachers or lesson plans adjusted, not asking students to do their school work on their phones instead. What about those who don't have phones? Or who can't afford to use the data? If it's actually happening (I'm not convinced it is), it's setting up impossible barriers for less well off students.

Can you imagine some of the content these children are viewing? It's shocking that this is allowed, I strongly believe they should ban phones at school, kids should be focused on their schoolwork and this isn't happening. What the hell is this government doing to this generation 😐

Yep I completely agree about schools encouraging phone use in class.
Even the homework is app based so without one I think a child would struggle.
I do feel that this undermines the efforts parents are making to limit screen use

My 10 yo sshas a phone. Originally he had access to the Internet on both the phone and his tablet. But we warned him we would regularly check his history in order to ensure he was being safe. Last month we checked and he had deleted the history and refused his I telnet privileges were removed and the devices locked down till he can be trusted. Even then he will have to discuss any website he wants to use with us before access is granted

Also the high school he is hopefully going to has a total ban on mobile phones. They can have them on their person but must be switched off during school hours.

Doesn't mean they won't use them. My son's school has this, if they are even seen switched off, or heard, they are confiscated. BUT they are still given permission in the odd lesson to get them out and use them, for kahoot quizzes etc mainly.

This is what we were told at my son's school. If they are seen out then they get a mark on their report card yet the teachers are asking them to use them to access websites they need in lessons 🤷🏼‍♀️
From what he's said I think he is telling the truth but I'm going to raise it at parents eve.