What mobile phones do 11 year olds have?

[thebluehen]

Dp wants to get dd an iPhone when she goes to secondary school in September.

Is this the norm now?

I would not give my DS a phone that was worthy of stealing by someone.

I want him to be able to use his phone in public without worrying about being mugged. No way would I let him have a smart phone, it's a nokia brick all the way.

"I wouldn't get an iPhone for an 11yo as they become a target for theft"

That was one of the reasons why we didn't want to get one for DD. That said, she is one of a few who doesn't have an iPhone. No-one steals them at DD's school because most pupils already have one.

What are the rules about phone usage in school for everyone else? v strict at DS1's that they must not be seen.

Same at DD's school. They are confiscated if they are seen using them in the building.

On DS1's FB there is often pictures taken in class by children at other schools to him. I don't know how they do it.

Dd1 10 has a galaxy s2 in theory, in reality its sat in a draw waiting for me to get around to taking my apps off and putting all my photos on my new phone. Its my old phone from before I upgraded.

at dd's school they are allowed them, can even use the school wifi, obviously, they aren't all sat instagramming during lessons, and some sites, eg facebook are blocked.

Very normal where I live, all the kids have phones. Ds has a Samsung galaxy y on a 7 quid a month contract which was cheaper than payg.

DS 12 has my old HTC handset and will get my present phone when the contract expires. I would recommend that you get them to set a PIN lock on the phone which will deter a casual thief at school. Also check the phone coverage before you buy, EE is the only one that works at my son's school (we are in rural area). To be honest DS only takes his phone to school if they have a trip out or if the weather looks like it could be problematic.

My 12 year old got an iphone 4 for xmas. It's her first phone but she had proved herself to be responsible with her ipod touch and it just seemed like a reasonable progression. It also makes it easier for me to monitor use as she has the same itunes account as me and her photo stream is shared on mine etc. Also simple to share chargers and accessories etc. I have an iphone, as does her grandma and her sister and grandpa have an ipads so we can all use facetime, imessage etc.
In her group of friends, 3 don't have phones, 2 have iphone 5cs, 3 have iphone 4s and 2 have samsung trends.

I don't give any of mine a phone unless they are going somewhere far afield and they borrow my old one. The general rule in my house is if you want it - get a job and pay for it.

ds2 started senior school last September, he has to go quite a way on his own and the policy in this household is phone on your birthday prior to moving up to secondary. His birthday is January so he had his quite a long time before moving up (whereas ds1 birthday is july so hardly anytime before leaving primary)

Hi first phone was a nokia lumia, which he had for over a year but it feel out of his blazer pocket into a puddle and the screen smashed. I brought him a brick to see him through to him saving up for a new one. He brought a Samsung galaxy mini , which was fine, but my brother has just upgraded his phone contract and has given him his old iphone 5c, hes over the moon with it.

I don't think i would give an iphone straight away for the first phone, either a cheaper smart phone on payg up to £100 ish, or a very small contracted phone, then if ran properly and phone treated with care then when contract due for an upgrade then phone of choice or if payg then a more expensive phone.

I swear by giffgaff for my boys though, even the almost 17yr old is still on giffgaff as its £10 a month for unlimited texts 500 mins of calls and 1 or 2mb of data, they've never ran out of data/minutes yet, whereas ds1 managed to run up bills of £200 plus on contract with orange.

DD is too young to get a job, but she is old enough to go round town/the nearest shopping mall on her own with friends. I would be very uncomfortable with the idea of not being contactable or her not being able to contact me. She doesn't need a smartphone for that, but she does need a phone.

Another vote for GiffGaff here as well.

PAYG cheapy, text and talk only.

needs charging once a week, small, tough, cheap if lost and cannot be used to access porn or take unsuitable selfies. Not suggesting that is your kid, but plenty of them do.

iPhone here but it was her 20yr old brother's old handset with a PAYG SIM in it.

As for the porn/unsuitable content argument. You can say that about almost all technology accessible to preteens/young teens nowadays. All you can do is educate them to behave appropriately, keep an eye on their internet histories and discuss/action anything that is inappropriate and cap their data useage so that they less able to access downloaded or streamed content.

What spidermama said.
We are thinking of taking the sim out if the cheap (tesco capped £7.50 contract) smartphone and putting it into a no internet brick because of my 13 yo DDs complete inability to put the bloody thing down. Ever. Makes a complete mockery of any attempt at parental monitoring of internet or screen time. She can just slip it in her pocket and hide in the bog watching Stampy long nose vids on u tube. 11 yr old don't need internet enabled phone, although some would cope with the temptation better than others.

PAYG supermarket cheapies here too. I don't mind them having more expensive games, tablets etc outside school but taking an iPhone or equivalent into secondary school will inevitably end up stolen/lost. Dc don't seem too bothered about not having expensive phones anyway.

DD1 got an iPhone first Xmas after starting senior school and they use them all the time there. She's on three and I pay £23, It's capped as soon as she hit allowance she can't do anything else. I have got 18 filter on but it's not much use really. One condition of her having it is I have her social media and email logins as well as being able to check the phone. TBH I've found some quite worrying things along they way. She did have a blackberry and I feel an I phone is safer than BBM.

My dd1 starts secondary in September and I've promised her she can have my old Blackberry when she starts. That's as "modern" as she'll get for the next few years, I know Blackberries aren't "cool" with teenagers now. It'll also be a basic pay as you go sim with no internet data either.

Whatever phone you like BUT read the cyber bullying misery threads and think about protecting your new secondary school child by getting thrm a fairly bardic brick with miminal internet - they can use social media etc on a computer if they must ( but 11 is very young for Facebook IMHO) but you limit access of bullies into their home by not having the best net phone ever....

The latest phone will make them a " mugger magnet" and not having an iPhone will not make thrm a social pariah.

Also best/safest tarriff is either p&g or pay monthly sim. A teen and a contract ( unless you can be sure there is a working cap they can't override - or can't be overridden if lost/stolen ) is asking for huge bills which impact on your credit rating. You only need to read the stories on money saving expert about adults who " didn't know" it would cost squill ions to do x or y, or Left the data on abroad but " didn't use it" when it was updating email /apps etc on a roaming tariff.

If you want to get brilliant smartphone on a budget the moto g is amazing for £100 or so and can be capped at tesco. My 21yr old has one and loves it.

DD has an iphone 4, inherited from me I have an iphone 5 provided by work. She had a very old iphone 3 before that which was handed down from a cousin and she looked after it perfectly, and follows our rules for usage which is why I has happy to give her the 4 as an upgrade.

And another vote for "they aren't too bothered " about phones - the 21 yr old got her moto g at Xmas. The 18yr old and 14yr old have galaxy y phones - old, not all singing/dancing but functional - and don't break if dropped lol.

I even offered the 18yr old a new phone or an extra £10/ month cash allowance - he chose the dosh!