4 ms·

> Nobody is saying kids shouldn't have phones I'll say it. Kids shouldn't have phones until the age of 16.

pmg101 4mo ago
The smartphone free childhood movement is explicitly saying children shouldn't have phones (until 14). I'm broadly with them although with nuance.
burnt-resistor 4mo ago
Limited, locked-down smart watches is what most kids need.
- quickthrowman 4mo ago
  That is the solution my sister and brother-in-law chose for my 10 yo nephew. He can call home and a few family members and do whatever other limited things an Apple Watch can do. I wear a regular mechanical watch and have never used an Apple Watch so I’m not exactly sure what else it can do, lol. F2P games with dopamine drip loot boxes and things of that nature seem super unhealthy for kids, I can’t even imagine what it’s doing to their impulse control. I am unable to tolerate games like that myself, probably because I grew up with regular video games that didn’t use psychological tricks and pay to win ecosystems to induce people to spend money. If I had grown up playing them I probably wouldn’t know any different, like the fish asking “what the hell is water” when asked “how is the water this morning?” By an older fish.
yogorenapan 4mo ago
I got my first bug bounty at 16. Not having access to compute would've drastically changed the direction of my life. I wouldn't have been able to afford university & would likely be working on a farm right now like my cousins
- fragmede 4mo ago
  Access to a desktop computer vs a smartphone that they bring to bed with TikTok on it are different though. What was your bug bounty for?
  - dgellow 4mo ago
    As a kid I was using my PSP to browse the web at night. Will you also restrict a Nintendo DS, a Switch, and any other device that comes with a web briwser?
  - adrian17 4mo ago
    AFAIK a nontrivial (5-10%?) fraction of population own a smartphone without any bigger computing device.
    - bigfishrunning 4mo ago
      I would doubt many of them are using those smartphones to collect bug bounties.
  - yogorenapan 4mo ago
    IOS and MacOS priv esc. Yes I needed a smartphone to test on
    - fragmede 4mo ago
      That's awesome! Testing on, with a non-zero amount of adult supervision isn't the same thing as being given a phone with Snapchat and TikTok to take to bed at night though. I'm open to setting it to a different age. I didn't do a ton of research before picking 16. But also it's not like I'm actually in charge of anything either.
- NeutralCrane 4mo ago
  Well they didn’t say 16 years olds should not having access to compute so your point is irrelevant.
  - theamk 4mo ago
    Pretty sure that to get a bug bounty one needs to study things first, and this takes quite a bit of time.
    - yogorenapan 4mo ago
      Yup. I started learning at 10 mostly messing about with modding and dumb script kiddie stuff. You don't just get a computer one day and get an exploit out the next
  - marysol5 4mo ago
    This is what aannoys me about all the discussions on these issues. People come up with all sorts of random scenarios, that aren't even related to "prove" something...
- marysol5 4mo ago
  I got my first legal threat for reporting a vulnerability at 14 :(
roundabout-host 4mo ago
Not unconditionally, but some truly benefit from them, if the parents teach them not to use social media in a harmful way.
theamk 4mo ago
Don't your kids go anywhere by themselves? Or do they stay at home / only get ferried by the parents? A bus-tracking app on my phone completely changed how I interact with public transit, and made it significantly better. I remember waiting for the bus when I was 14, and I would not wish this to anyone. A maps app is great when you are going to less-familiar places - either into the big city, or into large parks (although not every kid is ready to be hiking in the parks before 16) I spent all of my childhood with a (large and ugly) digital camera on my belt. Phone is much smaller, and for the kind of pictures I was taking, the lower quality does not matter that much.
- marysol5 4mo ago
  I once nearly had the police called on me for being missing as a kid. Hadn't got the bus straight from school to my grandma's house, needed to go home first (walkable) and pick up something. Missed the bus then that was due, and waited over an hour for the next one. So I was now best part of 2 hours late, and I didn't have a phone yet....

The smartphone free childhood movement is explicitly saying children shouldn't have phones (until 14). I'm broadly with them although with nuance.

burnt-resistor 4mo ago

Limited, locked-down smart watches is what most kids need.

quickthrowman 4mo ago
That is the solution my sister and brother-in-law chose for my 10 yo nephew. He can call home and a few family members and do whatever other limited things an Apple Watch can do. I wear a regular mechanical watch and have never used an Apple Watch so I’m not exactly sure what else it can do, lol. F2P games with dopamine drip loot boxes and things of that nature seem super unhealthy for kids, I can’t even imagine what it’s doing to their impulse control. I am unable to tolerate games like that myself, probably because I grew up with regular video games that didn’t use psychological tricks and pay to win ecosystems to induce people to spend money. If I had grown up playing them I probably wouldn’t know any different, like the fish asking “what the hell is water” when asked “how is the water this morning?” By an older fish.

yogorenapan 4mo ago

I got my first bug bounty at 16. Not having access to compute would've drastically changed the direction of my life. I wouldn't have been able to afford university & would likely be working on a farm right now like my cousins

fragmede 4mo ago
Access to a desktop computer vs a smartphone that they bring to bed with TikTok on it are different though. What was your bug bounty for?
- dgellow 4mo ago
  As a kid I was using my PSP to browse the web at night. Will you also restrict a Nintendo DS, a Switch, and any other device that comes with a web briwser?
- adrian17 4mo ago
  AFAIK a nontrivial (5-10%?) fraction of population own a smartphone without any bigger computing device.
  - bigfishrunning 4mo ago
    I would doubt many of them are using those smartphones to collect bug bounties.
- yogorenapan 4mo ago
  IOS and MacOS priv esc. Yes I needed a smartphone to test on
  - fragmede 4mo ago
    That's awesome! Testing on, with a non-zero amount of adult supervision isn't the same thing as being given a phone with Snapchat and TikTok to take to bed at night though. I'm open to setting it to a different age. I didn't do a ton of research before picking 16. But also it's not like I'm actually in charge of anything either.
NeutralCrane 4mo ago
Well they didn’t say 16 years olds should not having access to compute so your point is irrelevant.
- theamk 4mo ago
  Pretty sure that to get a bug bounty one needs to study things first, and this takes quite a bit of time.
  - yogorenapan 4mo ago
    Yup. I started learning at 10 mostly messing about with modding and dumb script kiddie stuff. You don't just get a computer one day and get an exploit out the next
- marysol5 4mo ago
  This is what aannoys me about all the discussions on these issues. People come up with all sorts of random scenarios, that aren't even related to "prove" something...
marysol5 4mo ago
I got my first legal threat for reporting a vulnerability at 14 :(

roundabout-host 4mo ago

Not unconditionally, but some truly benefit from them, if the parents teach them not to use social media in a harmful way.

theamk 4mo ago

Don't your kids go anywhere by themselves? Or do they stay at home / only get ferried by the parents? A bus-tracking app on my phone completely changed how I interact with public transit, and made it significantly better. I remember waiting for the bus when I was 14, and I would not wish this to anyone. A maps app is great when you are going to less-familiar places - either into the big city, or into large parks (although not every kid is ready to be hiking in the parks before 16) I spent all of my childhood with a (large and ugly) digital camera on my belt. Phone is much smaller, and for the kind of pictures I was taking, the lower quality does not matter that much.

marysol5 4mo ago
I once nearly had the police called on me for being missing as a kid. Hadn't got the bus straight from school to my grandma's house, needed to go home first (walkable) and pick up something. Missed the bus then that was due, and waited over an hour for the next one. So I was now best part of 2 hours late, and I didn't have a phone yet....