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Let them have old Nokias. Calls and texts only. Inexpensive (not a theft magnet), durable, long battery life. No social media (or online gaming even?) until at

Let them have old Nokias. Calls and texts only. Inexpensive (not a theft magnet), durable, long battery life. No social media (or online gaming even?) until at least 16, if not 18 or 21, seems entirely reasonable given how much it messes with the heads of full-grown adults.

vundercind 3y ago
We’re finally about to the point that our kids kinda need something. Payphones don’t exist anymore, after all. We’re planing on a shared Nokia at first, maybe separate ones as they get older. We figure if they want a smartphone, they can have one when they can pay for both the phone and the data line themselves. If they can hold down a part-time job they might be responsible enough for it. If it matters that much to them, they’ll do what they need to get it. If not… guess it wasn’t that important.
- graeme 3y ago
  A cellular Apple Watch seems like a decent possibility. Has anyone tried this? Has phone, messages, weather, location sharing, ability to google basic stuff. But very, very hard to use compulsively. You can even add things such as instagram apps but they're just not that compelling in a small format.
  - vundercind 3y ago
    Still has to be tied to a phone, right? Or can they operate without ever being connected to a phone, now?
grugagag 3y ago
The problem with older phones is an interminable deluge of fake robocalls and soliciting text messages which make them practically unusable. Smart phones can filter these out but come with a different flavors of cancer
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  Some carriers offer services that do a pretty good job of filtering these out. You can also set it up so that incoming calls are whitelisted or something like that on just about every phone.
  - rustcleaner 3y ago
    >You can also set it up so that incoming calls are whitelisted or something like that on just about every phone. Nope. You get a blacklist as a basic feature, but a whitelist has to be installed (on Android). I use Silence (single Android profile) or Yet Another Call Blocker (multi Android profile) [both on F-Droid]. I add * to the blacklist then set the ignore/skip for numbers in contacts setting. You literally cannot make my phone ring without being added to my contacts. This should have been the standardest of standard features for years, which is just another example of Out To Get You games companies play on retail customers (another example of a set of standard features which should be ubiquitous is the Privacy.com cards: every bank or credit card company should offer the same virtual cards and control features but practically none do: screw you Mr. Customer buy the upgrade/DLC/"Pro edition!").
    - rustcleaner 3y ago
      I'd like to see DMCA rolled back in a way that it is almost legally encouraged to break security systems on products, in order to maximize either more owner control or maximize performance left on the table and is physically there (even in code) but is otherwise locked out in software. In my wet dreams: gone will be the days of one assembly line, one physical object, many grades of product performance dependent on '''licensing''' codes and such. You don't want the customer to have heated seats? Don't ship the heated seats! Don't like that the customer is hacking your software/firmware to enable those features, and sharing the modifications (just the steps to mod, like a diff patch)? Tough cookies mate, actually here's a 20%-of-last-year-gross-revenue fine for anticompetitive and anticustomer sovereignty business practices. Pray we don't seize all assets and liquidate you, next time you try this trick again. Imagine if companies had to treat customers like a defendant has to treat Your Honor in a courtroom, or they get boycotted and fined to bankruptcy... that would be niiice. :^)

vundercind 3y ago

We’re finally about to the point that our kids kinda need something. Payphones don’t exist anymore, after all. We’re planing on a shared Nokia at first, maybe separate ones as they get older. We figure if they want a smartphone, they can have one when they can pay for both the phone and the data line themselves. If they can hold down a part-time job they might be responsible enough for it. If it matters that much to them, they’ll do what they need to get it. If not… guess it wasn’t that important.

graeme 3y ago
A cellular Apple Watch seems like a decent possibility. Has anyone tried this? Has phone, messages, weather, location sharing, ability to google basic stuff. But very, very hard to use compulsively. You can even add things such as instagram apps but they're just not that compelling in a small format.
- vundercind 3y ago
  Still has to be tied to a phone, right? Or can they operate without ever being connected to a phone, now?

grugagag 3y ago

The problem with older phones is an interminable deluge of fake robocalls and soliciting text messages which make them practically unusable. Smart phones can filter these out but come with a different flavors of cancer

dghlsakjg 3y ago
Some carriers offer services that do a pretty good job of filtering these out. You can also set it up so that incoming calls are whitelisted or something like that on just about every phone.
- rustcleaner 3y ago
  >You can also set it up so that incoming calls are whitelisted or something like that on just about every phone. Nope. You get a blacklist as a basic feature, but a whitelist has to be installed (on Android). I use Silence (single Android profile) or Yet Another Call Blocker (multi Android profile) [both on F-Droid]. I add * to the blacklist then set the ignore/skip for numbers in contacts setting. You literally cannot make my phone ring without being added to my contacts. This should have been the standardest of standard features for years, which is just another example of Out To Get You games companies play on retail customers (another example of a set of standard features which should be ubiquitous is the Privacy.com cards: every bank or credit card company should offer the same virtual cards and control features but practically none do: screw you Mr. Customer buy the upgrade/DLC/"Pro edition!").
  - rustcleaner 3y ago
    I'd like to see DMCA rolled back in a way that it is almost legally encouraged to break security systems on products, in order to maximize either more owner control or maximize performance left on the table and is physically there (even in code) but is otherwise locked out in software. In my wet dreams: gone will be the days of one assembly line, one physical object, many grades of product performance dependent on '''licensing''' codes and such. You don't want the customer to have heated seats? Don't ship the heated seats! Don't like that the customer is hacking your software/firmware to enable those features, and sharing the modifications (just the steps to mod, like a diff patch)? Tough cookies mate, actually here's a 20%-of-last-year-gross-revenue fine for anticompetitive and anticustomer sovereignty business practices. Pray we don't seize all assets and liquidate you, next time you try this trick again. Imagine if companies had to treat customers like a defendant has to treat Your Honor in a courtroom, or they get boycotted and fined to bankruptcy... that would be niiice. :^)