Parental controls on phone to go with Govs new phone policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

I think I misread your post. You are saying need the phone “at school” which I get. Yes, 100% agree that they don’t need them at school. Not in 8th and not in 12th. Many use phones to coordinate before and after so schools that bar them generally do so by taking them away during the school day or having an absolute ban on taking them out during the day. Fully support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are phones you can buy without all the capabilities

Some school in the UK reportedly only allows students to have Nokia (dumb) stick phones — which can only do SMS and voice — and they have to be out of sight during instruction or study hall or PE. I read it either on SkyNews or BBC recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

In this case, "parental choice", as in exercising your right as parents to control cellphone use in school by making them keep it at home would solve the whole issue entirely.

I'm fine with exceptions for kids who need apps for medical or sped reasons. But they need to keep the phones away during class too. Their school-issued iPads and MacBooks can take pictures of teacher slides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

In this case, "parental choice", as in exercising your right as parents to control cellphone use in school by making them keep it at home would solve the whole issue entirely.

I'm fine with exceptions for kids who need apps for medical or sped reasons. But they need to keep the phones away during class too. Their school-issued iPads and MacBooks can take pictures of teacher slides.

But my prohibition for my child does not solve the problems I already pointed out of other kids using cell phones at school. Only a school ban solves those problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

In this case, "parental choice", as in exercising your right as parents to control cellphone use in school by making them keep it at home would solve the whole issue entirely.

I'm fine with exceptions for kids who need apps for medical or sped reasons. But they need to keep the phones away during class too. Their school-issued iPads and MacBooks can take pictures of teacher slides.

how do you take a picture of the board with a laptop?

[Anonymous]

I got my 6th grader an Android phone to be able to keep in touch with him after school since we no longer have a land line and i work in an office, returning home after 6.

He’s uses it responsibly because he knows I can take it and look at his apps, chats, activities, history etc, at any time. That was the deal… he has a phone with no expectation of privacy from mom’s prying eyes. And I know he mainly watches YouTube, occasionally texts friends or Snapchat’s. I occasionally examine the phone for smut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

In this case, "parental choice", as in exercising your right as parents to control cellphone use in school by making them keep it at home would solve the whole issue entirely.

I'm fine with exceptions for kids who need apps for medical or sped reasons. But they need to keep the phones away during class too. Their school-issued iPads and MacBooks can take pictures of teacher slides.

how do you take a picture of the board with a laptop?

Laptops do have cameras, but more to the point in the case of slides, teachers can share them digitally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes but… Be aware that kids can find ways around any parental controls.

I’m the PP above. I take parental controls very seriously. The point I was trying to make is that you have to check the settings constantly and monitor use of the phone as much as possible, because no parental controls are fail safe. (Or teen proof.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got my 6th grader an Android phone to be able to keep in touch with him after school since we no longer have a land line and i work in an office, returning home after 6.

He’s uses it responsibly because he knows I can take it and look at his apps, chats, activities, history etc, at any time. That was the deal… he has a phone with no expectation of privacy from mom’s prying eyes. And I know he mainly watches YouTube, occasionally texts friends or Snapchat’s. I occasionally examine the phone for smut.

This is how I know you’re clueless. You think you can take his phone and see what was sent/received on SnapChat. 😆😆

“But my kid would NEVER!!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

Does your kid bring a Nintendo Switch to school? It's not needed, but parents but it for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working through the parental controls takes time and effort. Most kids I see have no meaningful controls. Parents just hand them a phone. So I am guessing that parents use “kids could get around it” as a reason not to put the work in. Yes, it’s true that kids can get around *some* controls (with time and effort and usually evidence you can see), but I don’t buy into the notion that you therefore hand them an iPhone and say good luck. For example, our child was using phone too late in the evening despite Apple setting to shut it down. (Our child wasn’t changing the time zone but, for a while, the control wasn’t working.). I knew this because I monitor when child was using phone. Our solution was to remove phone physically from child at the appointed time. It takes work. Most parents find handing their child a phone is convenient FOR THEM; they can coordinate with kid, kid stops whining, etc. And when convenience is a drive, the effort to work on parental controls and monitoring usage, etc, takes a backseat. It’s pretty amazing to me that in our hyper educated affluent little bubble the kids are running pretty wild with phones and most parents seem to shrug it off.

Parents buy their kids phones, are not willing to lift a finger to restrict access and then scream about phones being a menace that the schools must take away.

We do not give our children phones until 8th grade. We are extreme outliers. And we fully restrict access; no web, no social media, etc. And I FULLY support banning phones in school. So disagree.

At least in part, other parents choices of allowing no limits on phones means my children are getting less out of the school day. Teachers spend way too much time policing phone usage instead of teaching my kids. Other kids aren’t socially engaged because they are playing games on their phone so my children have less interaction. Then there is the whole bullying/social media world to potentially impact my child.

Moreover, it is proven that phones are highly addictive, especially to teenage brains. There are all kinds of negative influences that schools don’t allow but some parents allow to differing degrees at home. Video games, movies, junk food. We haven’t let Starbucks open up a shop in our public HS either because we don’t believe letting kids drink lattes all day is good for them or a healthy contribution to an academic environment.

Finally how could you possibly monitor inappropriate usage by your child at school? My child loves ESPN. He checks it. Does checking ESPN constitute inappropriate usage? If it’s during a teachers lesson, yes. If class ended early and he’s finished his work or whatever then no.

Why do your children even need a phone at school, even in the 8th grade?

Im confused. Are you asking a rhetorical question? Are you criticizing us for giving them a phone in 8th grade? No kids “needs” a phone ever. But I buy my kids all kinds of crap they don’t need like everyone else.

Maybe you are some old person who hasn’t had kids in the school system for the last 15 years? Most kids at our N Arlington ES have phones starting in 4th grade. We are holdouts. By 8th grade, our kids are about 1/100th of the class in just getting a phone.

In this case, "parental choice", as in exercising your right as parents to control cellphone use in school by making them keep it at home would solve the whole issue entirely.

I'm fine with exceptions for kids who need apps for medical or sped reasons. But they need to keep the phones away during class too. Their school-issued iPads and MacBooks can take pictures of teacher slides.

how do you take a picture of the board with a laptop?

You can take pictures with a MacBook through Photobooth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got my 6th grader an Android phone to be able to keep in touch with him after school since we no longer have a land line and i work in an office, returning home after 6.

He’s uses it responsibly because he knows I can take it and look at his apps, chats, activities, history etc, at any time. That was the deal… he has a phone with no expectation of privacy from mom’s prying eyes. And I know he mainly watches YouTube, occasionally texts friends or Snapchat’s. I occasionally examine the phone for smut.

Every single child with a phone is an exception to the rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got my 6th grader an Android phone to be able to keep in touch with him after school since we no longer have a land line and i work in an office, returning home after 6.

He’s uses it responsibly because he knows I can take it and look at his apps, chats, activities, history etc, at any time. That was the deal… he has a phone with no expectation of privacy from mom’s prying eyes. And I know he mainly watches YouTube, occasionally texts friends or Snapchat’s. I occasionally examine the phone for smut.

This is how I know you’re clueless. You think you can take his phone and see what was sent/received on SnapChat. 😆😆

“But my kid would NEVER!!”

Bwahahahaha!!!