Parental controls on phone to go with Govs new phone policy

[Anonymous]

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

Including looking with on the phones with kids whose phones are not restricted.

[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.

I'm an advocate for banning cell phones from being on or out during the school day, not just in class.
However, I find your statement ludicrous. The whole point of giving your kid a phone is so that you can communicate when they are not at home, including after school hours but still on school campus for various reasons.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone tried this? https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/03/iphone-assistive-access-kids-seniors/#

[Anonymous]

The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

[Anonymous]

Rabid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

Any computer savvy child can disable all of the controls or work around them. (Or get someone else to do it for them.)

Keep your kids’ phones at home! They can use the front desk’s landline if they really need mommy and daddy so badly during school hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

I guess I’m rabid? I use controls, delayed allowing my child to have a phone, and I monitor their usage during school (they aren’t allowed to use it). I get that my kid could get around these things. But, the biggest complaint my kid has is the distraction of OTHER kids on phones. Teachers spending class time policing this issue, kids not participating in class because they are on phones, kids not socializing at lunch etc because they are on phones, and kids being mean on phones. What do you recommend for me?

[Anonymous]

we use ourpack and my kids have never had access to anything but calling during school hours. i also have it set to shut down at 10pm. it will be nice next year since phone have been banned in that my kid won’t be “the only one who can’t use his phone at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

Any computer savvy child can disable all of the controls or work around them. (Or get someone else to do it for them.)

Keep your kids’ phones at home! They can use the front desk’s landline if they really need mommy and daddy so badly during school hours.

Short of a medical emergency, which would be handled by the nurse, there’s no way anyone in our public ACPS middle school office would take kindly to a student asking to use the phone. Sadly.

[Anonymous]

I used the Grace app on my kid's iphone which is somewhat similar to or related to the Bark phone. It allows me to:

Lock down, from my phone, my kid's phone during certain hours of the day. So I lock it down from 10pm to 7:30 am for bed, and then marry it to my kid's school schedule to lock it down during class periods but open it up for lunch and other big study periods during the school day in case they want to text friends during those free periods etc.

I also set a daily limit of 3 hours (during school days) of total phone screen time (and 5 hours over the summer). Sometimes if the kid asks I'll give more time.

There are other parts of the app that allow you to block specific apps and sites or set specific time limits on certain apps, but I feel I've had less success using those.

I do find the app successful in general. I can control all of this from my own phone, or "pause" all limits from my phone if the kid calls me and says they need access suddently. The limits may shut down the kid's ability to email or text, but they always have access to their phone to call me if there's a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

Any computer savvy child can disable all of the controls or work around them. (Or get someone else to do it for them.)

Keep your kids’ phones at home! They can use the front desk’s landline if they really need mommy and daddy so badly during school hours.

Short of a medical emergency, which would be handled by the nurse, there’s no way anyone in our public ACPS middle school office would take kindly to a student asking to use the phone. Sadly.

My child has called me from the front office once with permission. He left something at home and the teachers/staff were fine with a one minute call. It can be done! Even without a cell!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

Any computer savvy child can disable all of the controls or work around them. (Or get someone else to do it for them.)

Keep your kids’ phones at home! They can use the front desk’s landline if they really need mommy and daddy so badly during school hours.

Short of a medical emergency, which would be handled by the nurse, there’s no way anyone in our public ACPS middle school office would take kindly to a student asking to use the phone. Sadly.

My child has called me from the front office once with permission. He left something at home and the teachers/staff were fine with a one minute call. It can be done! Even without a cell!!!!!!

Which school/district?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

Any computer savvy child can disable all of the controls or work around them. (Or get someone else to do it for them.)

Keep your kids’ phones at home! They can use the front desk’s landline if they really need mommy and daddy so badly during school hours.

Short of a medical emergency, which would be handled by the nurse, there’s no way anyone in our public ACPS middle school office would take kindly to a student asking to use the phone. Sadly.

My child has called me from the front office once with permission. He left something at home and the teachers/staff were fine with a one minute call. It can be done! Even without a cell!!!!!!

Which school/district?

APS Middle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rapid parents don’t want to bother using controls themselves. They want the school to take phones away from everyone. So much for parents choice.

Any computer savvy child can disable all of the controls or work around them. (Or get someone else to do it for them.)

Keep your kids’ phones at home! They can use the front desk’s landline if they really need mommy and daddy so badly during school hours.

Short of a medical emergency, which would be handled by the nurse, there’s no way anyone in our public ACPS middle school office would take kindly to a student asking to use the phone. Sadly.

My child has called me from the front office once with permission. He left something at home and the teachers/staff were fine with a one minute call. It can be done! Even without a cell!!!!!!

Which school/district?

APS Middle School

You’ll note that the above poster was speaking about experiences in an ACPS middle school. Which shows that even in the same region, experiences vary.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you should advocate to ACPS to let your kids use the front office phone in one-off emergencies instead of lugging around an $500-1200 cellphone? Because we all know which schools/student bodies creates these issues.

(It is not the ones who can’t afford them.)