When did your DC get first smartphone?

[Anonymous]

Right before 6th grade. Public school.

[Anonymous]

Beginning of middle school - 7th grade here. No regrets yet (going into 10th).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5th grade for DC1. It was an old iPhone 4 and we locked down everything on it. Couldn’t take to school until 8th.

6th grade for DC2 with a lot less restrictions than DC1 had. No issues with either kid.

Pathetic

[Anonymous]

End of 7th grade. He already had an iPad for games and certain chat apps, so the phone wasn’t a big change.

[Anonymous]

11th. Worst thing ever, but he needed a smartphone for one of his jobs since it required apps to be active during his shift. I would have held out until he left the house if I could have. No need for young kids to have constant screens at their disposal.

[Anonymous]

My oldest was 8th. I realized later that it came at a cost socially. Her friends were making plans throughout middle school by phone so she was often left out. Also there was a lot of FaceTiming etc she missed out on. I guess this could have been solved with an iPad but then an iPad has all the same risks as a phone. My 2nd and 3rd got them in 6th. All were responsible users but one of my kids had a “friend” borrow their phone and post on social media leading to a huge nightmare. So teach your kids never to let anybody touch their phone.

[Anonymous]

11, start of 6th grade. Rule following kid with screen time restrictions. Barely texts or calls anyone, but comes home before we do and no landline.