Aibu to ask if you bought your child a dumbphone

[Jjiillkkf]

Aibu to ask if you bought your child a dumb phone instead of a smartphone and how that went. Also, shamlessly - I'm looking for recommendations, are there any quality ones out there or are they all quite flimsy?

Yeah i am hoping by the time my DC are secondary age dumbphones will be the norm for under 16s, if not that then heavy restrictions via family link etc
The younger teens in my family have smartphones but completely locked down. Minimal screen time, no social media except whatsapp & this is monitored, no youtube/tiktok, no web browser except for a small amount of time (monitored).

Really just maps, some school related apps, ability to call & text

It’s total BS to try and spin giving a child a smartphone as some sort of educational necessity. You don’t give a child a gun to teach them about gun control.

This was the plan for DS aged 10 as he has just started getting a (school) bus to his new school. Instead we repurposed an old iPhone but it's essentially a dumb phone as he can only text and call and play games on it on the bus. He can't download any apps without permission or use the Internet.

Me too.

I follow the Smartphone free childhood account on Instagram and it's heartening to start to see other school mums following it too.

For those saying smartphones are essential for homework apps, are you saying your DC do their homework on a phone?? Can you not access the homework on a computer? Surely it's far easier for them to do homework on a computer than phone?!

When’s your parenting book coming out? I look forward to being taught how to be a sensible parent.

@Namechange8463 Our homework is literally in an app. The homework tasks are listed in an app and need to be ticked off in there. Some tasks are done within the app (quizzes, listening tasks) and other homeworks need to be done in other apps. Most tasks are inaccessible from a computer. Apparently it’s kinder for kids who don’t have computer access. 🤷‍♀️

So we have smartphones that are very locked down and limited. It works, but I would prefer textbooks and worksheets.

We got our son a basic Nokia (he's just started year 7). He's not interested in using social media apps, etc, and isn't interested in using a phone at all really, but we thought it would be good to have in case of emergencies.

We had to get him a laptop for school which is used in class and for homework. Kids aren't allowed to use their phones on the school grounds.