DO NOT give your kid a smartphone this Christmas

[Firey40]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDd86TftyNT/?igsh=MTZueGVicm1udDllNw==

The evidence is overwhelming.

Their brains are only young once.

We might not have known before….. but we know now.

STOP GIVING KIDS SMARTPHONES

smartphones are bad…anyway, here’s a link I found on Instagram whilst on my smartphone to back that up

Well obviously, it's the only way to get the attention of some people.
Hardly going to stick it in a newspaper.

.Bus passes, train tickets, maps, timetables and live train/bus running info are all on apps
Paper train tickets are available. Timetables and live info is displayed at stations. Timetables can be printed out.
You really don't need a smartphone in order to travel

I agree OP. Phones/social media are ruining this generation. They are so addictive. And our young people’s brains are still developing.

if you are a parent of a child who has handled this well, then well done. But most kids I come across are completely zoned out and don’t know how to communicate.

I don’t think it’s fair to have a go at the OP about sharing an Instagram video to get the message across. There are multiple research papers on this but parents aren’t reading those. Best to use a medium at the heart of the problem.

also if your child already has a smart phone, then there is a fantastic thing called a brick. You scan your phone on this brick and it locks you out of whatever apps you choose. So you could get your kids to scan the brick before school so no social media, but maps and bus tickets would still work.

https://getbrick.app/?srsltid=AfmBOoqy4myeah2RhDP6Ih3wLUMhc3BqA2y0MJHmGQAZb0iEfTCvAyM5

You’re missing out putting limits on it. That’s all we’ve done with DS. Saying a blanket no to phones is going to cause a lot of other issues…kids will be left out, isolated and in many ways will not know how to deal with the modern world because it is, and will continue to be, tech reliant. Clearly free and unlimited access isn’t great but neither is a blanket no.

They are bad for children. The OP posting it on social media in no way undermines that. Kids shouldn’t be on social media.
Especially stuff like tiktok which is full of disgusting videos glorifying eating disorders and stuff. And Snapchat - wow what a super idea - let’s invent an app that deletes messages and photos after a few seconds. Genius.

You need real-time updates on the state of your kids phone battery? That's a crazy level of stalking

Teaching or do you mean tracking? You can track an airtag on an ipad (or other apple device), do you have one of those?

Is it possible to have a smart phone but put some sort of parental controls on that don't allow social media?

So what happens when she doesn't reply and you don't know if it's because the phone is dead, at the bottom of her bag, she's deliberately avoiding you because she's up to no good or something bad has happened to her? My life360 shows me where they are if they're not answering and if their battery is low. Friend of mine whose daughter has a brick phone recently asked me to check life360 to establish whether the kids' delayed train was moving as she wasn't getting any response from her daughter.

The thing is, you can not get your child a smartphone and they still be exposed to all the same things because other kids have smartphones.

OR.... You could allow your child to have a smartphone, put boundaries around when they have access, what they have access to and keep an open dialogue with them. It's much harder to actually parent rather than ban the things that are causing an issue.

Hilarious that your evidence for this rant was social media though. Pot, meet kettle.

No it just means if they go off radar I know why and don't assume they're dead in a ditch.

You get over it and accept that you can’t know where your child is at every moment of the day or if you are seriously worried, you contact the police.

If this were true, we would already have a generation of unemployable people. We don't, so I think you're catastrophising.

Strangely, my dc are doing well at school, are successful and engaged in their multiple hobbies, and aren't showing any of these symptoms.

There are risks to having phones, absolutely, but there's also an impact to being without one. This is one of a thousand decisions a parent will make about what works for their dc and their family.

But they could be dead in a ditch and you’d be lulled into a false sense of security because you just think they aren’t replying due to having no battery.

Yes, 100%.

It's also possible to speak to your teenager about why they want access to alcertain things and how that could be managed if you feel it could be appropriate.

I agree and think in 10 year's time we'll all be more careful.

We have Google family link which is good for controlling what they do on their phones and downtime.

Our current problem is mindless YouTubers. We've banned YouTube but my son has found some YouTubers on Amazon prime! He can watch them for hours

I've recently found out that a lot of online services are not covered by ofcom. I'm hoping that in the future, any media that is consumed in a country can be covered by it's information regulations.

Too late got my kids one about 4 years ago.

I like to track them and keep in contact.

They know all of the dangers I'm constantly telling them.

I only use my mobile to call/text people when I am out or for Google maps if I get lost.

My adult dc are similar but they also use Instagram and occasionally facebook.

My 14 year old uses his to call dh if he wants a lift. He has to be reminded to take it with him though.

My 11 and 10 year olds haven't got them.

I don't mind my dc having phones as long as they are not on social media before aged about 16. I really don't want them staring at screens like zombies though. And it always seems worse when there is quite a few children and they are all staring at phones. When I was that age then a big family get together or a wedding etc was a good opportunity to run around playing a game that's more fun with lots of people.

Also my 13 and 10 year old's struggle to sleep so I try and limit their screen time in the day as much as possible. Every family is different though and I know that some children need more screen time than others.

My children benefit from the independence their phones give them.

What kind of independence do they benefit from that children in pre-mobile phone generations did not have?

A hell of a lot less genuine independence in my experience.

I think eventually smartphones will be banned for under 16s and be in the same category as smoking and sex.

We know they're terrible for kids and I think we'll look back with incredulity that it was ever okay to give one to a child.

They're probably not dead in a ditch. Why is everybody so anxious?!

Thanks @WasThatACorner
My eldest is heading to secondary school Sept 26 so they've not got phones yet. I'm just trying to learn more in preparation , I watched the dispatches show 'swiped' the other days and was horrified.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/17/children-swiped-channel-4-smartphones-mental-health-addiction, I thought this was really interesting.

I will hold out for as long as possible with DS. He watches a lot of TV and games a lot but on screens around us not a small personal one. He has no social media and doesn't play any online games with any chat or text chat enabled. He's not allowed YouTube anymore. We're a gaming family but some things are far more destructive than others. People let the whole world into their living rooms and give them access to their kids.

@Tarraleah my son is indeed home educated (the correct term) but that doesn't mean he's never allowed out of my sight. However he could go out when he's older and neck vodka and smoke weed but that doesn't mean I have to stock a liquor cabinet for him, does it. And he would necessarily drink less if he couldn't drink at home, just like a kid who's allowed to sit on their phone at home will spend more time on it than one who only gets to look at a friend's.

But they can literally be life savers too.

Yes but if my kid is stuck somewhere without money I can buy a ticket from home and it will appear in their app. Can't do that with a paper ticket. Bus stops round here don't have screens so if the bus doesn't show they have no info without the app live map/running times. If they get on the wrong bus/train and don't know where they are I can help them because I can see where they are/they can look on Google maps and find out what bus they need or where to walk.