Tell me why you don't let your teen have a smart phone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Hello rich and clueless OP,

It must be so nice to be you, and not have to worry about money and whether your children will lose so many hundreds of dollars worth of phone.

Sincerely, the common man.

Does common man = stupid as well? You can get a very cheap Android based smart phone for less than @$100. Super cheap if you buy one used. Then you just use a pay as you go service.

Still too expensive.

I agree. $100 is still a lot of money for us. Living within our means and differentiating between a 'want' and a 'need' = smart.

Android phone plus 90 days of service - $59 - http://www.hsn.com/products/lg-lucky-android-tracfone-600-min-texts-data-and-case/8033624

Refills are as low as $10 a month.

Cheap smartphones do exist.

I am the first PP you quoted, and I completely understand I can get something less expensive. But DS would still lose it. And the quality wouldn't be great.
So my preference is to hold off until he's a little more responsible, then buy him something that's reasonably good quality.

[Anonymous]

I agree. $100 is still a lot of money for us. Living within our means and differentiating between a 'want' and a 'need' = smart.


Android phone plus 90 days of service - $59 - http://www.hsn.com/products/lg-lucky-android-tracf...in-texts-data-and-case/8033624

Refills are as low as $10 a month.

Cheap smartphones do exist.

Yeah, they do exist. And most of them suck, including the one you recommended http://www.cnet.com/products/tracfone-wireless/user-reviews/ and https://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/tracfone.html . And, it's only got 4GB of memory? Puh-lease. You may as well have a flip phone.

[Anonymous]

My kids don't need one all day long just because everyone else let's their kid monkey see monkey do. I'm teaching mine to lead not blindly follow.

[Anonymous]

I used use pay phones to call parents. Now? No pay phones anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Hello rich and clueless OP,

It must be so nice to be you, and not have to worry about money and whether your children will lose so many hundreds of dollars worth of phone.

Sincerely, the common man.

My kid's smartphone cost $45. The price of pay as you go service is the same for smart/dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Hello rich and clueless OP,

It must be so nice to be you, and not have to worry about money and whether your children will lose so many hundreds of dollars worth of phone.

Sincerely, the common man.

That is a bit harsh, given the cloud here. For years my kid had a very cheap smart phone. Cost $100 per year for his plan. No internet access except wifi, if he wanted the hundred to last. Eventually we put him on the plan and bought him a better, but still relatively cheap plan. I don't know why so many people buy their kids expensive. Parent-quality equipment, but my life is easier when my kid has a phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Usually one of a couple of reasons:

1) Cost
2) Some stubborn belief that screens are bad or other luddite type attitude.

Our kid got one when it was convenient for us for her to have one. That was middle school.

great for you! Now go back and parent your own kid.

Wtf? OP asked people to tell her why their teens don't have smart phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Usually one of a couple of reasons:

1) Cost
2) Some stubborn belief that screens are bad or other luddite type attitude.

Our kid got one when it was convenient for us for her to have one. That was middle school.

great for you! Now go back and parent your own kid.

Wtf? OP asked people to tell her why their teens don't have smart phones.

Wasn't responding to OP. Was the Pp judgement comment #2.

[Anonymous]

Question: for those parents who spoon feed their kids drugs for attention deficit and low grades, did you buy them a smartphone?

A smartphone, if nothing else, is a distraction for young, developing minds and instills a addiction to an unfocused life that is constantly beeping and blinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: for those parents who spoon feed their kids drugs for attention deficit and low grades, did you buy them a smartphone?

A smartphone, if nothing else, is a distraction for young, developing minds and instills a addiction to an unfocused life that is constantly beeping and blinking.

I'm unfamiliar with ADHD medications that are in liquid form - can you let me know what your kids take? The ones we have are either in tablet or extended release capsule form. The only way to spoonfeed them is to open the capsules or to grind the pills and mix them with something like applesauce.

Not sure why it's relevant but since you asked, my oldest is in middle school, has ADHD and does NOT have a smartphone. He makes the A/B honor roll every semester but all his academic classes are in either the self-contained special ed classroom or team taught general ed classroom. My youngest also has ADHD, does NOT have a smartphone and gets 'push in' support for all academic subjects. He is at grade level. Again, we don't spoonfeed them their medication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: for those parents who spoon feed their kids drugs for attention deficit and low grades, did you buy them a smartphone?

A smartphone, if nothing else, is a distraction for young, developing minds and instills a addiction to an unfocused life that is constantly beeping and blinking.

Go fuck yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: for those parents who spoon feed their kids drugs for attention deficit and low grades, did you buy them a smartphone?

A smartphone, if nothing else, is a distraction for young, developing minds and instills a addiction to an unfocused life that is constantly beeping and blinking.

Go fuck yourself.

Ouch. I guess I hit a nerve.

Go become a real parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: for those parents who spoon feed their kids drugs for attention deficit and low grades, did you buy them a smartphone?

A smartphone, if nothing else, is a distraction for young, developing minds and instills a addiction to an unfocused life that is constantly beeping and blinking.

NP here. Stop bashing kids who have ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm honestly perplexed by this. Our kids have them and they're great. I can reach them, they text, look up school assignments, have fun on Instagram etc we check their phones pretty much every day and we take them at night and no phones at meals. They aren't allowed to erase their history. Just curious why parents don't allow ?

For the same reason I don't buy my kid a lot of things -- she doesn't need one. A dumb phone works fine for texting and calling. She can look up homework assignments on our home computer, or on my smartphone in a pinch.

[Anonymous]

I hate that my 12/13 YO has a smart phone. It has consumed her. Constant texting, can't live without the phone, it's taken over her life.

We did put some limits on it such as, no access to texting on school nights after 9:30 PM, but even so, it's still a pain.