Cell phones and kids

[Swank]

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For me, I didn't see a benefit to cellphone for my kids at that age.
My 11 year old has a "dumb phone" and I'm glad of that. I kinda wish my teen had one like that too. Smartphones are a hassle and I don't like them.

I miss the days of dumb phones and smart people.

[bjstare]

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I dunno dude, I have a big response typed up, but you've made your choice. Different strokes for different folks. Hope it works out for you and your kid

My kids are 3 and 5 and I periodically end up putting thought into this and getting minorly stressed about it. I'm interested in hearing both sides.

I'm an advocate for early cell phones, I had one when I was 12 (which back in 1999 was crazy), but 12 vs 7 is a huge difference.

[Pacman]

Does Shaw (rogers now I guess) still give out the free cell phone lines if you have internet with them? I use one of those for my 11 year old as it's free for calling and texting but no data. SHe has an Iphone 8 that is locked down to only accept calls from certain people.

[R-Audi]

A few friends have given their younger (ie 10-12yr olds) Apple Watches with a sim card. They have the ability to block all apps, so its basically used for text and phone, during hours that are programmed.

[you&me]

I think the phones for kids thing is entirely circumstantial.

We got our oldest a phone a few months before she turned 10. For one thing, she's extremely mature and responsible and we give her some autonomy when it comes to some of her activities... the phone lets her communicate what she's doing. If it weren't for a stockpile of old phones, an Apple watch would've served the same purpose. Family sharing with the Apple ID means I still have to approve all app purchases, etc.

Personally, I feel like there needs to be a practical use for a phone beyond giving kids another screen to stare at. If it weren't for this specific use case, we wouldn't have got her a phone at that age.

Edit - as silly as it might sound, phones seem to be quite common in our circles at 10-11ish and there always seem to be lots of group chats going, so there is a definite FOMO for the kids that don't have phones... Up to the individual parent(s) on how they want to address that for their kid(s).