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IMO the problem with phones for teens it that they have nothing to use them for except socialization. Adult phone addiction is a problem but phones are also too

by extr 2y ago

IMO the problem with phones for teens it that they have nothing to use them for except socialization. Adult phone addiction is a problem but phones are also tools for adults. Answering emails, calling the doctor's office, checking your credit card statement, etc. Teens have literally no use for phones except for communication/socialization. They also have abundant free time. One plan I've been thinking about for my own kid (currently 9mo old) is he's allowed to have a phone as long as he also has a job (or suitable job-like activity appropriate for a teen).

mid-kid 2y ago
I would disagree. While I was a bit of an outlier and would use my phone primarily for tinkering, I would also use it to go down rabbit holes on wikipedia, play video games, read books and watch shows. Phones are glorified consumption devices, at the end of the day.
Spivak 2y ago
> Teens have literally no use for phones except for communication/socialization. What do you think they're supposed to be using them for if not that? Socialization is the point. I was every bit the teenage girl annoyingly on her phone constantly but I was constantly talking to my friends / boyfriend. So much of being a teenager is being dragged places you don't want to go and being forced to be around adults you don't care about talking about insurance or escrow or whatever. But online was a place that was mine, where my friends were.
- extr 2y ago
  Nothing, my point is that they don't need them. You can physically socialize.
hammyhavoc 2y ago
Obviously someone doesn't remember the Game Boy, iPod, Walkman, pocket TVs, camcorders, Polaroids, digital cameras et al. Just because modernity has social nonsense baked into it by default doesn't mean that they were social experiences to begin with. Entertainment, utility and creativity were valued over social e-peen points once upon a time. Shocking, I know. Adding this kind of friction to be able to communicate with family and peers is a recipe for a teenage dropout that's more focused on chump change just to have a phone than further education. I left school at sixteen, I was never given pocket money. You bet having a girlfriend, cool clothes, a phone, an iPod and video games was more important to me than anything my dad had to say, especially when what we were being taught was nothing I had any interest in. The final straw was needing a new computer to run Boinx to make stop-motion animations (my hobby at the time before CG movies really took off). Having the things you want and need is a big deal to teenage brain, especially when they're attainable without much effort and make you happy. If a parent isn't giving resources or nurturing interests and is instead adding friction to something a teen can actually have for themselves, that parent is losing all leverage over a teenager because they can't threaten to take away pocket money and thus their source of "cool" and pleasure in life. Kids should focus on their studies if their parents can facilitate them being able to do so. "I wouldn't allow my kids to leave school at sixteen", in the UK at the time, they were legally adults, but also didn't stop plenty of kids dropping out at fourteen to work and get the things their parents weren't giving them. Neither parent wanted me to leave, but neither parent was relevant in any way anymore to me, they were just obstacles between me and my teenage bullshit.
deleted 2y ago
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by extr 2y ago

mid-kid 2y ago

I would disagree. While I was a bit of an outlier and would use my phone primarily for tinkering, I would also use it to go down rabbit holes on wikipedia, play video games, read books and watch shows. Phones are glorified consumption devices, at the end of the day.

Spivak 2y ago

> Teens have literally no use for phones except for communication/socialization. What do you think they're supposed to be using them for if not that? Socialization is the point. I was every bit the teenage girl annoyingly on her phone constantly but I was constantly talking to my friends / boyfriend. So much of being a teenager is being dragged places you don't want to go and being forced to be around adults you don't care about talking about insurance or escrow or whatever. But online was a place that was mine, where my friends were.

extr 2y ago
Nothing, my point is that they don't need them. You can physically socialize.

hammyhavoc 2y ago

Obviously someone doesn't remember the Game Boy, iPod, Walkman, pocket TVs, camcorders, Polaroids, digital cameras et al. Just because modernity has social nonsense baked into it by default doesn't mean that they were social experiences to begin with. Entertainment, utility and creativity were valued over social e-peen points once upon a time. Shocking, I know. Adding this kind of friction to be able to communicate with family and peers is a recipe for a teenage dropout that's more focused on chump change just to have a phone than further education. I left school at sixteen, I was never given pocket money. You bet having a girlfriend, cool clothes, a phone, an iPod and video games was more important to me than anything my dad had to say, especially when what we were being taught was nothing I had any interest in. The final straw was needing a new computer to run Boinx to make stop-motion animations (my hobby at the time before CG movies really took off). Having the things you want and need is a big deal to teenage brain, especially when they're attainable without much effort and make you happy. If a parent isn't giving resources or nurturing interests and is instead adding friction to something a teen can actually have for themselves, that parent is losing all leverage over a teenager because they can't threaten to take away pocket money and thus their source of "cool" and pleasure in life. Kids should focus on their studies if their parents can facilitate them being able to do so. "I wouldn't allow my kids to leave school at sixteen", in the UK at the time, they were legally adults, but also didn't stop plenty of kids dropping out at fourteen to work and get the things their parents weren't giving them. Neither parent wanted me to leave, but neither parent was relevant in any way anymore to me, they were just obstacles between me and my teenage bullshit.

deleted 2y ago

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