Older millennial here who didn’t get a (dumb) phone until high school, so I have no idea what the state is with kids and phones nowadays. Are they pressured by friends/school to have smart phones? How do you help them manage/cope?
My personal experience as a university student who had to use a flip phone for like a month while waiting for a replacement screen to arrive for the main phone, which is quite similar to what would have probably happened 10 years ago when I was still in school.
Everyone kinda expects you to just have one, for example, nobody uses the actual calling or SMS functions, they use chat apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, or discord. Most of the people that I talk to in the university, I wouldn’t even be able to contact without the apps, since I don’t actually know their phone numbers or e-mails
There are different challenges in early and late childhood. Things like peer pressure are a much bigger issue during late childhood.
In early childhood the kid wants the entertainment and it’s incumbent upon the parent to deny them that and provide more enriching activities that have fewer strings attached.
I’m amazed this is even controversial. My parents didn’t get me my first cellphone until I was in the 8th grade, and it was a flip phone. I didn’t get my first smartphone until the 10th grade, and it was a Blackberry. My first Android wasn’t until I was almost finished highschool. And I turned out just fine.
The only reason it’s controversial is because parents do not take responsibility for their children.
It seems like the big hangups are parents unwilling to face social backlash (“but all the other kids have phones”) and parents trying to justify their lack of effort with their kids (setting a device in front of the kid to shut them up). Ironically these two groups are willing to throw all the effort they don’t put into raising their children into defending their bad behavior.
Parent here, raising kids without smartphones until they’re at least in high school.
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Older millennial here who didn’t get a (dumb) phone until high school, so I have no idea what the state is with kids and phones nowadays. Are they pressured by friends/school to have smart phones? How do you help them manage/cope?
My personal experience as a university student who had to use a flip phone for like a month while waiting for a replacement screen to arrive for the main phone, which is quite similar to what would have probably happened 10 years ago when I was still in school.
Everyone kinda expects you to just have one, for example, nobody uses the actual calling or SMS functions, they use chat apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, or discord. Most of the people that I talk to in the university, I wouldn’t even be able to contact without the apps, since I don’t actually know their phone numbers or e-mails
Thats one thing America has going for it. Texting is still a thing here
There are different challenges in early and late childhood. Things like peer pressure are a much bigger issue during late childhood.
In early childhood the kid wants the entertainment and it’s incumbent upon the parent to deny them that and provide more enriching activities that have fewer strings attached.
Yes. It’s how they communicate via social media and watch Tiktok. Also, the better the iphone you have, the cooler you are.
I’m amazed this is even controversial. My parents didn’t get me my first cellphone until I was in the 8th grade, and it was a flip phone. I didn’t get my first smartphone until the 10th grade, and it was a Blackberry. My first Android wasn’t until I was almost finished highschool. And I turned out just fine.
The only reason it’s controversial is because parents do not take responsibility for their children.
It seems like the big hangups are parents unwilling to face social backlash (“but all the other kids have phones”) and parents trying to justify their lack of effort with their kids (setting a device in front of the kid to shut them up). Ironically these two groups are willing to throw all the effort they don’t put into raising their children into defending their bad behavior.