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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

242 replies

Wellhellooothere · 30/01/2020 11:01

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

OP posts:
Classof66 · 07/02/2020 14:45

Some of you wanting children being able to access social media really do not get it !
I was not victim blaming,you really do not get it.

notnowmaybelater · 07/02/2020 14:47

Not at 7. My elder two got them for starting secondary.

We set my youngest up with a PAYG sim in an old phone when he started taking the school bus home after school at 8 because sometimes he comes home to his older sister (14) in charge and he knew that our neighbor's son once forgot to get off the bus and ended up randomly getting off in the middle of nowhere 6 miles away for some inexplicable child-reason and caused a mini parents and neighbors search party incident.... Obviously DD wouldn't be in a position to hop in the car and drive around looking for him and it'd be less stressful if he could call for advice.

It was a Placebo really more because he was anxious about forgetting to get off the bus. At the same ages my older two were told to stay on the bus to the depo and ask the office staff there to call me, and he was instructed the same.

The phone lived in his bag switched off for a month until we suggested checking the battery, and since then it hasn't left the house. He does however use WhatsApp on the WiFi to send me photos of his homework when I'm at work... He only has people who live in our house and FIL as contacts.

JacquesHammer · 07/02/2020 14:48

Some of you wanting children being able to access social media really do not get it

WHO???

As far as I can see EVERYBODY is getting your point, we just don't agree with it.

Can you please explain (as has been pointed out twice by me alone) why you are immediately equating phone with social media?

If you can't control your own children's phones then that is your problem - not everyone falls into that category.

notnowmaybelater · 07/02/2020 14:52

Classof66 which posters want their children to access social media?

Phones don't keep children safe when going to the shops though...

PanicAndRun · 07/02/2020 16:04

DD has no social media. She asked about Tik ToK , I said no and explained why , then she agreed herself bot to have it.

She plays games and uses it to message 3 friends (that she grew up with), her aunt and her grandma.

Having a phone doesn't mean automatically having a social media presence.

MrOnionsBumperRoller · 07/02/2020 16:10

I know of 3 5/6 year olds with phones all of whom are in DDs year 1 class.

crosspelican · 07/02/2020 16:10

My 8yo is under the erroneous impression that she "has" an iphone, because we gave her 11yo sister an old iphone with no sim recently (might have to upgrade her to a sim - she found out within a week what a sim is and that she had been tricked!), rendering the even older shared iphone in the sole care of 8yo.

I mean, I guess in practice she does. But there's only a bunch of cat games on it. It's useful for them to network for Minecraft and Terraria.

Kia123456 · 07/02/2020 20:19

My daughter got a iPhone for her 7th birthday because her 3 best friends all got ones for Christmas and she was feeling excluded

bluebirdsong · 07/02/2020 20:23

Mine doesn’t and won’t until secondary school age. Don’t know any of their friends that have them either. Earliest around here is year 6.

Bedsheets4knickers · 08/02/2020 09:15

My son is 9 , he is 10 in September . For his birthday he is getting one .

Classof66 · 08/02/2020 16:42

If they have a phone they will be tempted on to social media

c0ffeeandcake · 08/02/2020 16:49

9 year old here. No phone and no plans for one any time soon. My niece is 6 and she got one for Christmas. I have to say, I was shocked.
I attended a mental health seminar last week in my workplace. I'm in NI and suicide rates are higher here than in any other region. The lady delivering the seminar said that youngsters having free access to mobile phones is a leading cause for poor MH in children and young adults. We are so isolated socially these days. Families don't sit round dinner tables any more. It's so sad and really makes me fear for the future.
DH and I have been making a conscious effort to use our phones less.
I realise the irony as I type this on my smart phone... but I'm in the bath hiding from my children!

thewinkingprawn · 08/02/2020 16:54

Mine absolutely will not be getting one until Y7. Having said that some of their friends (age 7 and 10) do have them and I am utterly fed up with them coming round or out with us and being glued to them. Parents ought to know better and it should be everyone’s concern. They are not old enough to understand how to manage them. And let’s be honest having a phone means with sim, able to use anywhere etc. Not something that has been disabled to within an inch of its life and is only used for games.

babybythesea · 08/02/2020 16:56

No. My 11 yo doesn’t have one either, although will probably get her one this summer as she leaves primary school.
In our village school, there is one 5yo with one, and then half a dozen year 5 and 6’s. The 5 yo shouldn’t have one, there’s no parental controls on it and he’s watching some very unsuitable stuff on it. I know because he tells me about ‘all the blood and people being dead. It’s not scary though, I don’t mind because I’m brave.’ (And yes, I’ve done my job Wrt safeguarding and reported, in case anyone asks.)

JacquesHammer · 08/02/2020 16:59

If they have a phone they will be tempted on to social media

Are you having issues with your children?

laudete · 08/02/2020 17:51

I think a better question would be, "Does your 7-year-old have a SIM card?"

My children did not get SIM cards until they were 8 years old and walking home from school by themselves - the same as their peer groups. I didn't have a SIM card until I was about 16 years old ie twice their age. However, before that age, I used public payphones if I needed to call my parents. There are no public payphones around here; I doubt my kids would even know how to use one.

MimiLaRue · 08/02/2020 17:53

No way- 7 is too young and they dont need one as they dont go anywhere alone at that age. Also I am not convinced mobile phones dont pose health risks for growing brains.

ItWillBeBetterinAugust · 08/02/2020 19:18

Classof66 parents of primary age kids should have total 100% access to their children's phones, and full strength parental controls if they have phones. Do you think 8 year olds are circumventing parental controls, accessing social media and covering their tracks?

Classof66 · 08/02/2020 19:20

JacquesHammer...No I do not have children but am alarmed at the trouble that access to social media by children is causing.

JacquesHammer · 08/02/2020 19:22

No I do not have children but am alarmed at the trouble that access to social media by children is causing

Apparently so alarmed you’re unable to answer most of the questions directed at you.

Must be exhausting being outraged on behalf of others!

PanicAndRun · 08/02/2020 19:23

But that access should be facilitated by a parent under their supervision and guidance, if at all. My DD doesn't have access to any social media at her because I don't want her to. It's that simple.

Taswama · 08/02/2020 19:27

My 9 year old doesn’t have a phone, I don’t have a 7 year old. I have had to confiscate a phone from a Beaver though (age 6-8). I think he was closer to 8 than 6 but I was shocked he had a phone.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 08/02/2020 19:33

Mine had them once they left Primary school as they need one in secondary if they miss the bus, snow closures etc as little contact from the school.

Before that they didn’t need one as were never unsupervised and I dint agree with primary children having phones.

Fivetillmidnight · 08/02/2020 19:50

What is all this mitigating guff about having split up and the child needs to contact the other parent ?

Can I suggest that separated parents grow the fuck up and put their child's need to speak to the other parent front and centre.. by the use of one of the PARENTS phones rather than give a seven year old access to all kinds of unsavoury behaviour on the internet.

This really is t good enough .

JacquesHammer · 08/02/2020 20:04

Fivetillmidnight

Oh the irony of you berating posters on another thread for their comprehension skills.

It’s just not good enough Grin