8th grade and no cell phone

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP: sorry to make this more clear, i am most interested in snapchat and texting friends. not so much interested in tiktok/instagram/other platforms


Give up on Snapchat. Lean in on texting.


Agree. -- parent of 8th grader who has a phone and texts but isn't allowed to have snapchat, insta, tiktok, bereal or any other social media app and also not allowed to use discord

Parental settings for times the phone can be used, phone stays downstairs at night. School isn't an issue because they lock up everyone's phone
Anonymous
There is no way a teen wrote this. I have teens. Really smart articulate ones. Nope, no way.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP: sorry to make this more clear, i am most interested in snapchat and texting friends. not so much interested in tiktok/instagram/other platforms


Give up on Snapchat. Lean in on texting.


I work at a place that has HS interns and both girls last year told me they like DMing on Snapchat better than text or even Instagram, because it's faster/more immediate. Both of them told me TikTok is toxic and neither had it. (They were not friends with each other and told me this separately from one another.)
Anonymous
You should be able to talk/text with friends on your watch
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:There is no way a teen wrote this. I have teens. Really smart articulate ones. Nope, no way.


My thought as well.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There is no way a teen wrote this. I have teens. Really smart articulate ones. Nope, no way.


My thought as well.


+1

Not even remotely plausible.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:There is no way a teen wrote this. I have teens. Really smart articulate ones. Nope, no way.


+1. My comment was going to be a little less direct.

OP--you are very articulate for a soon to be 14 yr old.
Anonymous
Troll
Anonymous
I mean, who knows, anything is possible. But I have a very very smart 8th grader, soon to turn 14. She won her school spelling bee as a 7th grader, got a 600 on most of her SOLs, but no, she could not write a post like this. She still does that thing where she uses a thesaurus to sound smarter and winds up choosing a word that's not quite a correct substitute.

Now of course, if OP spends all day reading very well written literature, it's possible. Never say never.

Re the original question . . . your brain is still developing. Phone addiction is a losing battle; the algorithms are stronger than our individual wills. I do allow my kids to get a phone when they go to middle school, but I use parental controls and screen time to shut off most programs after a certain amount of usage or at a certain time of night. Still, when my kids can be on their phones, they are glued to them.

I don't allow SnapChat (well, my older child is permitted to have it but knows I will check it regularly, and she didn't want to bother with that). I don't see that the upsides (what can you do that you can't do in a regular text other than get obsessed with your streaks?) outweigh the negatives (ripe ground for bullying, sexting, etc.). I do allow Instagram (private) once they turn 13.
Anonymous
My 13 year old can write like this, when she wants to, and there is a distinct difference between how she writes to friends (gibberish, bordering on not being English), how she writes for assignments, and how she writes to teachers/counselor when she wants to accomplish something. She puts A LOT more time and thought into the third, than either of the others. This is made even easier with AI, which they ALL use now, to make themselves sound more mature than they actually are.
Anonymous
If my kids started trolling DCUM they would never get a phone
Anonymous
OP: I promise I'm not trolling. I'm 13 years old, and yes, smart for my age. I'm not using AI, and I can easily switch up my tone in writing to how a "real teenager" would type. But I decided to write it with time and effort into grammar and sentence composition, since this is a parents forum, and I should respect that.

I appreciate the advice, with not trying for Snapchat immediately and veering towards monitored messages, sticking to ground rules, etc. It's all been very helpful to be able to ask questions and continue to see from a parents perspective, since I know they have my best interest in mind.
Anonymous
flip phone.

but DS is 5 and this convo is still a ways ahead.

social media is not good for anyone.
Anonymous
OP: If you guys still think I'm trolling, I could read and write fluently before 1st grade, always been above the class throughout school, been tested by several gifted professionals and accepted to numerous programs in different schools, taking all honors classes and advanced math, along with preparing for AET entrance exam. I scored 591 on my 7th grade reading SOL, with my detailed report saying I missed one question, which cost me a score of 600. Obviously with limited screen time and at-home learning I have had time to excel academically, I love reading, and writing! Honestly I'm in shock that I'm "very articulate" for my age! Thank you, cause I didn't think much of it while writing my post!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:You should be able to talk/text with friends on your watch


My parents don't allow that.
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