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I haven’t seen if the article covered this well but smart watches are a great bridge for kids this age where you can get everything you want as far as location

by atonse 2y ago

I haven’t seen if the article covered this well but smart watches are a great bridge for kids this age where you can get everything you want as far as location tracking, but without all the addiction. We’ve said for years that our kids will only get phones aged 14 or higher. Now we want to say 16. One can imagine how those conversations go. Hopefully the movement to make it illegal under a certain age gathers momentum.

ksec 2y ago
>Hopefully the movement to make it illegal under a certain age gathers momentum. Same here. With tech's growing influence on everyday's life. >> A 2021 report from the same group showed a significant rise in the number of 8- to 12-year-olds with a smartphone, from 24% in 2015 to 43% in 2021. I am thinking if the 8 - 10 age group skew this figures. I would expect 11-12 to have a smartphone at 60+% rate. Partly because at that age it is hard to resist peer pressure that their friends all have one. Normally I am against government making decisions for us. But this case it makes it easier. At least the government could mandate all schools to limit Smartphone usage under certain age.
CobaltFire 2y ago
We have our daughter a cellular connected Apple Watch in sixth grade because she wanted to walk home from school alone (it was about two blocks). She’s getting ready to enter high school and just told us she doesn’t see the point in getting a phone; her watch is fine. We also don’t do social media as a family (HN being my one exception) so she is growing up without exposure to that.
- _dark_matter_ 2y ago
  I don't know if we had bad service or what, but I bought both my kids cell-connected Apple Watches and had a terrible experience. Could never get ahold of them, half the time they couldn't call us or message us, battery sometimes wouldn't last a day, and on and on. I cancelled the plan and the watches sit in a drawer now.
  - CobaltFire 2y ago
    I have to admit it has been a challenge at times. Honestly, we just don't sweat it that much. We are trying to be LESS connected nowadays.

by atonse 2y ago

ksec 2y ago

>Hopefully the movement to make it illegal under a certain age gathers momentum. Same here. With tech's growing influence on everyday's life. >> A 2021 report from the same group showed a significant rise in the number of 8- to 12-year-olds with a smartphone, from 24% in 2015 to 43% in 2021. I am thinking if the 8 - 10 age group skew this figures. I would expect 11-12 to have a smartphone at 60+% rate. Partly because at that age it is hard to resist peer pressure that their friends all have one. Normally I am against government making decisions for us. But this case it makes it easier. At least the government could mandate all schools to limit Smartphone usage under certain age.

CobaltFire 2y ago

We have our daughter a cellular connected Apple Watch in sixth grade because she wanted to walk home from school alone (it was about two blocks). She’s getting ready to enter high school and just told us she doesn’t see the point in getting a phone; her watch is fine. We also don’t do social media as a family (HN being my one exception) so she is growing up without exposure to that.

_dark_matter_ 2y ago
I don't know if we had bad service or what, but I bought both my kids cell-connected Apple Watches and had a terrible experience. Could never get ahold of them, half the time they couldn't call us or message us, battery sometimes wouldn't last a day, and on and on. I cancelled the plan and the watches sit in a drawer now.
- CobaltFire 2y ago
  I have to admit it has been a challenge at times. Honestly, we just don't sweat it that much. We are trying to be LESS connected nowadays.