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Original poster

Do you thing that this is to young?

43 replies

Buffy81 · 31/03/2023 20:36

I was watching todays episode of the chase and this was one of the questions:

According to the research firm Childwise, on average, what age do children get their first phone?
A 7
B10
C 13

Turns out that its 7!

Why dose a 7yr old need a phone on the first place? They are only going to be in year 3 or 4 at school?

My eldest is 8 in year 4 has no need for a phone and I don't know of any off his friends that have one..
If I was to let him have a phone, it wont be until he is older and a bit more mature.

What do you think?

OP posts:
Nimbostratus100 · 31/03/2023 22:18

who are they asking?

are they asking 18 year olds what age they got their first phone?

or are they asking 10 years olds and disregarding any that dont have a phone yet?

or are they asking 7 year olds and half are claiming they own a phone?

this is saying half of all children under 7 have a phone, and I don't actually believe that

Bucketheadbucketbum · 31/03/2023 22:19

It's madness. Neglectful and lazy parenting, choosing to ignore the massive damage they're doing to their kids by giving them a phone.

Uk is nuts for this!

Awumminnscotland · 31/03/2023 22:26

Yes I know of at least 3 7 year olds with their own phones and lots of eight year olds. All of a sudden I'm seeing young kids roaming around the village with cross body bags with phones in. This, in a place where kids are very rarely seen outside of being ferried around in cars. It seems that having a phone makes it OK for kids to be roaming around when previously they were seen as too young. Nuts!

Ripleysgameface · 31/03/2023 22:36

My 6 year old is in year 2 and there are a few kids in the playground in the morning that have iPhones. I find it really bizarre.

My eldest didn't have one until he was 12 when he started to walk to school and to be honest, I regretted giving him one soon after.
Social media is awful, the phone is always a battle/cause of contention and very distracting. At one point there were pornographic videos in the what's app group chat which was made up of his primary school class, awful.

I've actually made the decision that my two youngest will not be getting smart phones at all. I'm not doing it again and I don't care if everyone else has them.

OP posts:
OP posts:
Nimbostratus100 · 31/03/2023 22:47

well, that is not the same as saying 7 is the average age to get the first phone which would mean that half of all children have one before then, and many significantly before then

Nimbostratus100 · 31/03/2023 22:48

I still think 7 is too young, and we end up seeing the results in the classroom, with reduced concentration, and lack of depth of experience of interpersonal relationships, and interactions with the real world

WheelsUp · 31/03/2023 22:51

I suspect that a lot of the 7/8 year olds use an old phone belonging to a parent or sibling without a SIM. It's a cheap way of setting up a handheld games console. (Ime it's extremely unusual to see Nintendo handhelds like GameBoys these days)

Yfory · 31/03/2023 22:51

My kids both got one aged 17. Somewhat different circumstances because they werent in college/school until then so they didnt have the peer pressure issues that kids at school would get about not having a phone.
They were fine about not having one until then and it was an age I was comfortable about them having one. Younger than that I wouldnt be.

Divebar2021 · 31/03/2023 23:06

There was also research by CEOPs to show that something like 60% of kids phones don’t have any parental controls on either. I find it one of the areas on here that parents seem to be most delusional about. My DD11 was really one of the last of her class to get a phone and I have really mixed feelings about it. I know her friends have all the social media Tik Tok, Snapchat etc which my DD is not allowed. I often see messages popping up on her phone after midnight ( it’s kept downstairs) and I have no idea if their parents know or care.

Nat6999 · 31/03/2023 23:43

Ds had his first basic phone age 6 , I bought it him so he could ring me from his dad's, he moved on to smart phones when I upgraded from my first IPhone a year later.

LuvSmallDogs · 01/04/2023 01:04

I got my 9 y/o in Year 4 a non-smart Nokia.

He uses it for snake, recording himself singing on the voice memo, taking photos and to text his grandparents. We're working on his independence at the moment - he walks the dog and scoots around the block, and we're building up to going to the corner shop by himself. He feels better having his phone "just in case".

Sugarfree23 · 01/04/2023 01:19

OK so 53% of 7 yos have a phone.
What percentage of them live between two houses?

What percentage of them have a sim in their phone?

How many are actual phones and not phone watches (tracking devices)?

Heathcloverpeaches · 01/04/2023 01:20

My kids are 14 and 12 and don't have any phone they just use ours once they're home...hoping to keep going until they're 16ish but not sure how it'll work out!

Vanderlayinfustries · 01/04/2023 01:25

Depends why people answered that. 8yo has an old phone with a few select apps and tough security settings. She can't call or message anybody and can only search ok child settings in a room where parents are. Most of the apps are educational some for homework

Very different to a fully functional phone which I'll allow in starting secondary even then only basic settings

AlwaysLatte · 01/04/2023 01:31

As a rule we gave them their first phones just before the summer holidays before they started secondary school, so that they could share contact details and keep in touch with their friends. I can understand those with split families having them earlier, though.

Cordeliathecat · 01/04/2023 01:43

nofilteronme · 31/03/2023 21:56

We set up an old phone with a SIM when DD was 7- because we were in lockdown so that was her way of keeping in touch with friends, and her grandparents.

Certainly wouldn't have been that young otherwise.

Yes, lockdown changed things for us too. Having a phone was the only way our youngest (9yr old at the time) could feel connected. We didn’t start that young with our eldest pre-lockdown.

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