to ask if YOUR 7 year old has a mobile phone?

[Wellhellooothere]

So a report out today reckons that HALF of 7 years olds have a mobile phone - nearly 50% of 5-10 year olds with phones, most by 7 years old.

IS that true?? I can't think of a single 7 year old with a mobile, and I work in a school... the age seems to be Year 6 going onto Year 7 where we are.

So tell me, am I wrong, does your 7 year old have their own proper mobile phone? I don't mean access to a tablet or one of those vtech toy things, I mean a real phone as this report says??

YABU - yes they have a phone
YANBU - no way, too young

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/mobile-phones-children-kids-a9308266.html

Uh, I would hope that any child that does have a phone at 7 or older would also not have access to it in the evening? That's a bit frightening. No way would a child of mine have their tablet or phone in their room past 6.30 - but I am anal on this point as I'm sure the majority of parents are, as my DD isn't a good sleeper so her tablet (kindle) is also on a timer and locked down to age appropriate content.

Mine got them for their 11th birthdays. So just before year 7 for 1 and just after starting year 6 for the other.

Prior to that they used my phone if they wanted to call their dad/grandma/who ever.

I heard this on the radio and was astounded, no way my daughter will be getting a phone next year! What would she need it for??
I know I can be very old fashioned, but this does concern me

I have a 7 year old and I haven't even thought about it, but it'll not be until he starts going out on his own with no adult supervision. I feel then it's vital for safety. So probably when he's 10/11 getting to/from school on his own. So first year of Secondary school.

There is one kid in Y2 who has a phone but I it's just for listening to music and playing games (I think it was just a parent's phone recycled instead of a tablet).

My cousin bought her son one for his 6th birthday, I thought it was ridiculous.

Not a chance and nor do any of her classmates.

Some of them have their own tablet with limited content/access.

Last term of y6 seems to be the time.

(seems to be the time, as in, that’s when most kids at her school seem to get them)

DD has my old phone but with no SIM. It's used for doing homework on an app and playing games and watching downloaded films when we're on a plane/ travelling.

My DS is 10 and doesn't have one. He says that most of his friends do though.

I'm assuming you're referring to phones with SIMs though, not when used as a smaller tablet?

Where I live children go to secondary school in year 5, so 8/9 years old and get a phone then as they catch the school bus. The primary kids that go onto the private that starts at year 7 get them then. I do know a 7 year old with a phone to talk to her dad (who has 50/50 custody) and was talking to random people on Roblox! Disgusting

My son is 7 and there is no fucking way I would give him a phone. For one, I think they’re evil for kids (but that’s another thread) but secondly he would lose it within 8 seconds so it wouldn’t even get a chance to count as ownership in the stats .

Don’t know who all these people are in the survey.

No. DS got his when he was 11, which was a year ago.

What’s changed about school transport that makes it no longer safe to use without a mobile?

Nope. Only for secondary school here

My dd has an iPod and got that at 7 so she can message us / her friends when on WiFi and play games .
I draw the line at a phone that young although apparently her two best friends got iPhones Christmas just gone and they’re 8 now .
It’s mad .

Mine does, but as with PP it is an old handset that is just for games and only used at home. My older son only got one when he turned 10, but he does need it for calls, etc as he walks to/from school alone.

I work in an infant school. Several of our Year 2s tell me they have a phone - it comes up as part of the annual survey form our LEA they ask our Y2s to complete, and also we discuss it in our computing lessons.

However, the vast majority of these, when we dig deeper, have a parent's old phone with no SIM in it - they use it as a mini tablet so more as a games console and a little on WIFI at home. Lots have their own tablets or at the very least access to a family one.

A small minority have working phones - ime, this has mainly been children who have separated parents and they use this phone to call/message the other parent.

Several years ago DD got her first phone for her 11th birthday - a few months before starting secondary. This was the same as most of her classmates. The age does seem to have come down though - we see several Y5s with their own working phones in the nearby juniors, often when they start walking to and from school on their own it seems.

I personally wouldn't give a 7y child a working phone, though may let them use an old one as a tablet.

I got my first phone at 6 years old as I started walking to school myself then (my mam could see me 90% of the way from the house) and I’ve had one ever since.

I’m now 21

Where I'm from (northern europe) most kids get themselves to school from when they are 7yo and might spend time alone after school before parents come home from work. Almost all of them have mobile phones. And hardly anyone has a landline. I got my son a mobile when he was 6yo so he had enough time to learn to use it confidently before he was ever left on his own.

Round here it’s typically year 6 to have a phone to take out, but I do know some younger children who have phones at home they call theirs - they are just to play games on following their parents’ upgrades and you would hope under supervision.

Erm... no way. My nearly 7 yo does not have a mobile and neither does my Yr5 9yo (and I've no plans to change that anytime soon!) I don't know of any children in yr 5 (so 9/10 year's old) who have their own mobiles. A couple have their parent's old mobiles with the sim card taken out but actual mobile? Nah.. DS would most likely break it or loose it within 48 hours anyway and the only person who'd call him would be me...

What’s changed about school transport that makes it no longer safe to use without a mobile?

My school bus, many many years ago, was just for my school and had prefects on it to keep us all in line.

My DD's school bus, not so many years ago, was a public bus than ran every hour. My DD is autistic and any problems with the bus or other passengers would send her into meltdown if she couldn't get hold of me.

My DS's school bus is just for school kids but for lots of different schools, with different drop off and pick up points. He's only 6 so I'd rather drive him in but lots of parents don't have that choice. I can see why those parents want to be in contact with their kids.