To be shocked that 97% of 12 years olds have smart phones?

[Rhayader]

My DCs school does not allow smartphones and most of the schools around here are the same. The kids all have Nokias (and often an AirTag or similar for tracking).

I can’t believe it’s 97%! Am I totally out of touch? She’s never even asked for a phone.

https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/23/children-who-dont-have-smartphones

I bet that many of the children from this school of dumb phones have a tablet at home. Tablets have pretty much the same functionality as a smart phone so I think that if the question was tablet or smart phone then the answer is like be 99%+

Our lunch money is done by finger print which I thought was the norm.

Well my child has a mini board and chalk - I don't care what his sixth form friends say!

Mine had a smart phone at that age purely for tracking purposes and to play games. He didn't have any social medias as I didn't allow it.

Something I would never let the school have.

I mean, Apple have it for many kids I guess…

So you don't mind biometric data of your child's being out their in the ether- what about if there is a data breach?

Not if you don't let them.

My point exactly. My eldest is 18, he had a smartphone from year 7, and he has left college, 2nd top in his class. He's at university now and has a part-time job with the council. It's done him no harm at all. Yes, at that age, he had restrictions as has my youngest now, but it's down to the parent to limit screen time on any device, and it's down to the maturity of your child. Some children are still very immature at any age. Technology is huge now. I mean, even AI has taken over jobs and is set to take over many more. We have to live with technology, not against it. Children need to be aware of online danger just as much as the dangers in the real world. They can't do that if everything is being overly controlled. That will make them even more inquisitive as they're being molly coddled.

So it’s ours but they don’t have a station to check it only the app.

That’s probably the norm at this child’s school to accommodate the lack of smartphones.

I’m interested in how effective parents find the AirTags given the children don’t have Bluetooth for them to operate from, so they need to rely upon smartphones nearby.

The amount of data stored about us, I feel the horse as long since bolted. All our data is stored at GP surgeries, hospitals, schools, work, libraries, gyms etc

Finger print is unlikely to cause many issues. I have to give it whenever I travel to the U.S. etc. I wouldn’t let them do a dna test or anything like that (or anyone tbh).

I can’t think of a scenario where her finger points being leaked (unlikely to start with) ends in something bad happening. I bet most kids with finger print phones use that feature.

I guess we could opt out and send a packed lunch?

I’m not suprised.
My son is 11 yr7 and he has an app on his phone for homework.
He has one friend who doesn’t have a phone and is not allowed to have one until yr9.
His parents have to have the app on a phone or pc.
My son lives within walking distance from home so he doesn’t get a bus but many of his friends do so they have them so they can contact their parents if anything is wrong or happens.
The rest of his friends have iPhones or Samsungs.
His school also have fingerprints for lunch as well

My DCs have had our old smartphones since starting y7. They have to hand it in at school or, for the older ones, have it turned off.
Once home, they don’t use - left in the kitchen drawer and the screen downtime is automatically activated

I can normally see if she’s at school and then she goes to a (non-school) club after school one day a week on the bus and I can see her traveling there. Then DH collects her on the way back from work. It updates every 4-5 minutes I would say, it’s not as good as tracking a phone.

Not biometric data unless you have actively chose that.

The idea that smartphones somehow keep kids safe while travelling to school is ridiculous. I see them every morning, shuffling along, hunched over a phone like a moron. Or using their phone while cycling. Give your kids some real independence ffs. Stop tracking them. Trust them. It's only a walk/cycle/bus ride not an Arctic expedition.

Not to mention the risks from all the other crap that phones give them access to.

My 13year old has a smartphone. They travel to school by bus. The bus company ONLY issue online tickets on an app which requires a smartphone to display/operate.

The phones are not allowed to be in use at school.

Outside of school I have limited what can and cannot be accessed and also set a limit on screen time.

It is shocking. Some schools use apps which make it virtually essential for the pupils to have smartphones. I wish they wouldn't do that, though there are workarounds (parents' phones, etc.). There are so many dangers to giving children smartphones and very few advantages. I have no doubt that in years to come, we will look back at this era in horror, just as we now look at questionable decisions of the past.

Well we are very unusual by the sounds of it. DS 12 has an old style phone and forgets to take it with him most days, he doesn’t care in the slightest. He cycles to school, it takes 10
minutes, we only pressure him to take it on bad weather days as we will pick him up if it’s pouring. We don’t want a smart phone for as long as we can leave it, WhatsApp groups for kids sound awful to us. We are open to letting him have one when it starts to really matter. Hopefully not for some time yet. Thankfully he isn’t bothered at all. He plays online games with his friends, arranges to meet them on Google chat on his Chromebook, does homework and uses school apps on the Chromebook, and doesn’t miss a phone at all. His best friend also has a brick phone and doesn’t want a smart phone either. His parents feel the same as us and want to leave it as long as possible. No religious school, just a massive ordinary comprehensive. Other kids do all seem to have them, and no we don’t care.

So you wouldn't mind if you or your child's finger print along with other identifying data was breached?

Doesn’t surprise me at all.
DD will have a phone for secondary school and I’m sure it’ll be a smartphone. The vast vast majority of kids I know, personally and professionally, have smartphones.

That is a very sensible approach.

Of course I would mind but the benefit outweighs this risk in this scenario. I would prefer her to be able to use the canteen and the chance of a data breach is pretty small. Who would target some kids finger prints?