Four year old got a cellphone for his birthday

[Anonymous]

It's a block of wood with some pictures he can change out, but it's in a real cellphone case so it looks like he's talking on the real phone.

He loves it. A family member described it as "the 2025 version of a candy cigarette".

I'm curious what other people think.

[Anonymous]

I don’t care

[Anonymous]

Nothing. This is not thread-worthy. The main thing is that a child loves their toy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a block of wood with some pictures he can change out, but it's in a real cellphone case so it looks like he's talking on the real phone.

He loves it. A family member described it as "the 2025 version of a candy cigarette".

I'm curious what other people think.

It is the 2025 version of a candy cigarette BUT people model their habits on people around them.

I had candy cigarettes and never smoked.

Kids start to love electronics because adults pay so much attention to their phones.

A wood phone is the most innocuous, sad beige format of mock smartphone.

You need to decide on how you will handle screens overall. This toy phone is just a distant early warning signal from the culture your kid will grow up in.

[Anonymous]

My kid had one where you press a button and Elmo calls. Kids want what they see their parents using on a daily basis…

[Anonymous]

My daughter had one with pandas. Didn’t get a real cell phone till the end of middle school. No social media yet. It’s not a gateway drug. Your child will be okay.

[Anonymous]

i love candy cigarettes.

[Anonymous]

A toy phone is pretty ubiquitous. My 5 and 4 year olds have toy phones (though they don’t look realistic at all) and have since they were toddlers. They have barely any screen time.

Candy cigarettes are different because you don’t want kids to smoke at all. Everyone will one day have a phone. That ship has sailed.

The bigger thing to worry about is how much their primary grownups are using phones around him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. This is not thread-worthy. The main thing is that a child loves their toy.

That’s demented.

[Anonymous]

OK? Sounds cute.

[Anonymous]

Never too early to begin the addiction?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. This is not thread-worthy. The main thing is that a child loves their toy.

That’s demented.

I know right? Heaven forbid anyone derive any joy from toys!

Both my parents smoke, I loved chocolate cigs as a child, and I have never smoked myself. Maybe try relaxing.

[Anonymous]

I had the plastic fisher price phone in 1975. I think this is a very normal toy. Don’t get her a baby vape pen though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatter_Telephone

[Anonymous]

Pack it in now. Kid is doomed.

WTF. It's a toy. Unclench.

[Anonymous]

The one I don't like is the toy plastic video game controllers aimed at toddlers.

Maybe in addition to the Barbie Dream House, they can create a Ken's Dream Dorm featuring a slovenly doll with a man bun that lays on its bed amidst a pile of discarded wrappers and empty Red Bull cans. With a clock on the wall--when it's the middle of the night, the doll will activate and play World of Warcraft on a laptop, and when it's daylight, it lays inert no matter how much the child prods it.