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After moving back to Finland from the US, I noticed that seemingly everybody gives their kid a SIM-equipped phone at age 7. That's the age when school starts (a
by pavlov 3y ago
After moving back to Finland from the US, I noticed that seemingly everybody gives their kid a SIM-equipped phone at age 7. That's the age when school starts (a year later than in most other countries), and a lot of children become fairly independent quickly, e.g. walking or biking to school on their own. It's just too convenient to be able to call and track the child by the phone.
In America, the smartphone seems to come several years later. The article here mentions that some parents want to hold it off until 8th grade!
The overall cultural difference is so great that this probably won't make for a valid experiment on mental health impact — but maybe there's something American parents will be able to learn from Finnish-style phone parenting practice eventually.
(Edit — a small observation from the Finnish kids. Their leading social media is WhatsApp Stories because everything else requires you to be 13+. A surprising data point in favor of Meta potentially capturing a chunk of the next generation.)
- watwut 3y agoI think that freedom at age of 7 might be difference on itself. It means that kids so actually can socialize on their own terms. Whereas if you drive kids to school and home, their only freedom is on the phone.
- urthor 3y agoBring back the flip phone. Got a kid, give them Motorola. Job done.
- rootusrootus 3y ago> maybe there's something American parents will be able to learn from Finnish-style phone parenting practice eventually. Keep in mind that Finland's total population is comparable to a small US state. You are generalizing cultural differences spanning several thousand miles and 330 million people. At the risk of doing exactly the same thing the other direction, I'd like to mention that this seems to be a pretty common European mistake.
- makeitdouble 3y agoWhether that hints at solutions to US issues is up for debate, but at least on the "are smartphone inherently problematic" question, it's a interesting comparison point IMHO.
- pavlov 3y agoI’ve never really understood this argument. The American states are not homogenous either, and Finland would be a mid-size state (its population is somewhere between South Carolina and Minnesota). Not everything that works in Minnesota would work in another state. Not everything that works in Finland would work in Minnesota. But surely neither is a categorical impossibility.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]