To think primary kids shouldn't have smart watches

[Trainsandcars]

DS wants a smart watch because friends do. He's in primary school. There's a proliferation of disctracting tech. You can't tell them to put it away. They're basically wearing a cheap games console. And its a constant dopamine hit and distraction likely to lead to demotivation etc..

AIBU?
No - they shouldn't be for under 10s
Yes - its no big deal

DS 10 said one of his friends recently got one for his birthday. As if it's a good thing! DS only has a Tab Time for toilet alerts (discussed with primary teacher so she's on board).

100% agree, our primary has a problem with this so the school have started removing them in the morning and giving them back at the end of the day. They are encouraged to start walking to and from school on their own once in year 6 which is the justification used by parents. Totally unnecessary for me.

I really welcome this social media ban for under 16s which is being debated, I hope it's less of a big deal by the time we reach secondary.

No they definitely do not need one in primary.

My nearly 9YO has one. We’ve started to leave her home alone for short periods so it’s a way she can contact us if needed. We can track her e.g. to see where her ski school group is. She uses it for music and likes the fitness tracking like how many steps she did when playing tennis. I think it’s a really good solution when you want them to be contactable and trackable but without giving them a phone. Also it was my old one so it was the cheapest solution! She doesn’t have any games on it, nor does she wear it on school days but if she did (maybe in Y6 if she starts travelling to school independently) it would have to be checked in and out at the start/end of the school day, same as a phone.

They are being added to the banned electronic item list for our Scout group.

DS was still in primary school when he got his (my old) Garmin which is semi-smart. He loves his running and found it useful when I offered it to him. He needed a watch anyway as he was getting himself to/ from school as I was doing the secondary school run.

Full-blown smart watches, no.

At least watches in general have come back into fashion. 10 years ago teenagers had no idea of the time if they couldn't pull their phone out. It's good to see the return of traditional watches.

Is a smart watch something with apps on?
My DS has a watchphone, which he can call, message, and take crappy photos with but nothing else. He walks alone to school so got it for reassurance (to begin with, no longer check the tracking, its pretty crap at tracking these days anyway) but he mostly uses it to call his friends and likes seeing how many steps he's done. Its on school mode at school so he can't do anything with it there so its not a distraction (everything else is though - very easily distracted child!)

I understand them for safety/communication if kids are walking alone. Some of them have settings for school, so they can't do the games, messages etc at that time, so you could look into different styled. I think the one I've seen is called 'imoo".

They are banned at DD's primary school, and at DNs'. Made life much easier as the showy girl who got one had it confiscated!

Slightly off topic, but I remember in 1990, the head of my primary school having a huge rant about watches which beeped on the hour (just after a dozen of them did during a quiet moment in assembly), and banning them on the spot. Such watches don’t seem to be fashionable any more: they probably vibrate instead. While the problem wasn’t exactly social media at the time, there were lots of issues about hand-held games, and probably some watches could be used to play games then. So, it’s not an entirely new problem.

I remember the beeps of digital watches also raising the ire of my junior school teachers.
They didn't know they were born

They're banned in my child's school.

But they aren’t traditional watches!!

Well done scout group! As even if they have one they can take them off.

To be fair garmin isnt the worst. But in general theyre more distracting than a watch.

Apparantly 6 year olds have then - according to DS. DS thinks this is amazing because its like daddy. They will always want the latest tech but I think primary is a bit young.

If it can record sound, make calls or take a photo it shouldn't be allowed in the primary classroom for safeguarding reasons. Also, children use the calculators on them in maths 😂 They're banned where I teach, quite rightly. No issue with digital watches with a step count etc.

Another beeping watch story happened just before Midnight Mass in the early 90s, which actually was at midnight. Everybody was sitting silently, waiting for the priest to appear. He was a few minutes late, and the silence was broken by a chorus of beeping watches.

We have one that has no games etc, can be remotely switched off (by the parent) so no distractions, doesn't allow Internet access but does let us track him and let's us call each other. It's really handy for when he's playing out after school, or walking home from school and wants to go to the park with friends etc etc.

So I disagree, it's been brilliant for allowing DS to have a bit of a wider range without the negatives of a phone

Our primary has banned smartwatches. Partly because they cause massive distraction and also because kids having camera devices in school and being able to film each other secretly on them raises safeguarding issues.

I don’t understand this obsession with tracking your child and I worry that we are creating a situation where later on the kids who grew up being tracked won’t see it as a red flag if their partner wants to track their whereabouts at all times “because they worry about them and want to be sure they are safe”.

They aren’t allowed smart watches at my DCs secondary school, I’m surprised primary schools would allow them?!

Does he fiddle with it a lot though? Would you mind sharing which model? I'm sceptical but open to the idea - though DS is easily distracted by technology.

I also dont understand tracking. If my kid is old enough to be out by themselves theyre old enough not to get lost.

Im not sure maybe DS is mixing fitness trackers up with smart watches.

I think an 8 year old tracking steps and fitness is complete insanity.