We allow my son to be online via his computers. He has a Macbook and a desktop PC. He's on Discord and a Slack. He can iMessage friends via his Macbook. The th

We allow my son to be online via his computers. He has a Macbook and a desktop PC. He's on Discord and a Slack. He can iMessage friends via his Macbook. The thing about a phone is that there's a data plan and it's out of your sight a lot. But to be fair, my son is mostly fine with sticking to these channels for talking to friends. So, it is particular to the kid. It doesn't hurt that we live in a tight nit community where he can walk to friends' houses, school, etc. My daughter is younger and probably will want to get a phone more than he does, when she is old enough.