To wonder if they’d ever ban smartphones for under 16/18’s

[Whatsforteatonightthen]

I wonder if we’ll look back at this time and wonder what the hell we were doing allowing our kids access to the internet and all the scary things it can bring-horrendous porn, pressures to look a certain way, scary information and so on…
My Dd is only young at the moment, but I worry about the future and allowing her a phone, those with teens, how do you do it, can you block certain things?

I really hope so! Dh and I were saying the same the other day!! No good comes from them at such a young age!

Yes. I've got the Google family link app and have to approve all apps and time she can spend on them etc. although I will loosen the rules and delete the app as she gets older. She's 12 now and we talk regularly about the dangers. It's a condition of having the phone that I can do a random check whenever I want, but realistically if she's being responsible and showing she follows the rules I won't check much longer. Smart phones have a lot of advantages- it's not all about the perils. We just need to help them be responsible until their brains are more mature

I hope so too.

I also think it will be one of those things we look back on and can't believe we were allowed.

Like I look back at 1980s style parenting....running to the newsagents to buy cigarettes for your parents...or sitting in the boot of the car with no seatbelt...and we can't believe we thought it was ok.

@dreadisabaddog Are there that many ad advantages to them though? What would you say they are? I’d say there are more negatives than positives

@Comedycook Exactly…this is what I’ve been thinking recently. Plus, I just can’t believe they were allowed in school and they’re only just looking at that now..it’s bizarre

@Misspacorabanne Yes, I really hope things have turned completely the other way by the time Dd hits that age and the pressure isn’t there for her to want/have a phone…same with the current awful big lips/surgery looks too

I don’t know if they could enforce it but I wish they would do something like this. DS is 9 and doesn’t have a phone yet but I know the pressure for us to get him one will grow in the next couple of years. I’m well aware we can refuse, but that’s not a cost neutral decision, either.

How?

Take the social media apps for example... they already have age limits. People ignore.

Online homework.

Medical devices.

Banking

Travel cards

Society is too enmeshed with online life now.

Bt of strange case for giving out info but was watching Michael McIntyre's The wheel last night and a question came up about the average age of having a mobile phone, not sure if it was a smart or making calls only type...answer turned our to be 7, so probably far to late by the time kids are 16/18.

For older teens I think smart phones are just part of life.
If they are travelling to/from school or out and about in the evenings they are used for timetables, directions, booking Ubers, working out what to do when trains/buses are cancelled, and tracking mates when meeting up.
There are little to no public phones anymore so they need a phone for emergencies.
Mine used them for school work, revision etc.
Music on the go.
I think it is far more important for younger teens to be taught how to use them sensibly.
Parents need to take more responsibility in monitoring usage, what apps their kids have, and removing phones at night etc.

No chance. At least not until we adjust what we think of 16/18 year olds. If people are in full time education until they're 25 and living at home until they're 40 then 16 becomes the equivalent of about ten now....so then maybe.

But it shouldn't need a ban. The current problems are caused by weak and irresponsible parenting. At some point we need to take responsibility for ourselves.

The issue with schools, is so many children travel in by public transport for secondary school without a parent with them, and as all adults have mobile phones now, there are no public phone boxes anymore, so parents (including us!) bought their dcs phones to take with them for the commute.

I know in a school near us they’ve discussed possibly collecting in phones for the day then returning at the end of the day, but decided the logistics for collecting, safely storing them corrrectly returning around a thousand phones was just not practical.

I don't know if there are more positives than negatives. I'm just saying they're not all bad. Here are the advantages for us (yes, I'm aware a brick phone could do some of these but not as easily)

DD likes (right now 😂) that I can track where she is when she's out alone. She says she feels safer. She also likes that she can track me if she doesn't know how long til I'm home.

She has a WhatsApp group for group projects so they can plan and discuss when not in school

This one is niche for us but she spends her school holidays in a different country so it helps stay in touch with school friends

She can easily speak to me on WhatsApp when she's in the other country without building up awful phone bills

If something piques her interest when watching tv she can immediately google and find out more (yes, I check her search history and we talk about fake news/ bad sources

She can have face to face regular contact with her cousins in Australia at no cost

Sure, brick phones or laptops can facilitate some of this but usually not so freely and convenient and the laptop doesn't fit in your pocket.

I genuinely do get the dangers. I just think we need to teach the kids how to face them. Life is dangerous. Hell, I had to teach my 18 month old not to run around with food in her mouth this morning. The smart phone thing is hard for us because we never had this danger growing up, but it's like everything else. Teach them the dangers but don't scare them into thinking there's no good side

I hope not. Parents need to parent. Have the difficult conversations, keep communication open, have rules etc. Kids are fine having phones if they’re parented properly ime.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/

I shared this link in another thread, but it's worth sharing again. Too much screen time, especially social media use, is actually very damaging to children.

@colourfulcrochet 100%