Has anyone successfully avoided giving their *high school* kids smart phones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG let your high schoolers have phones. iPhone preferred.

teenage hands wrote that post. you forgot to add "lastest model."

Why would you buy something other than an iPhone if you can afford it?

[Anonymous]

Our 7th grader has a smart phone but everything is disabled. So right now he can text but even that we limit. We know smart phones are an extreme detriment to kid's mental health. I think there's a way to find a balance. Allowing a phone that texts and increased freedoms as they get older and show that they can be responsible... access to you tube, netflix with time limits. Social media is so destructive to kid's mental health. As an adult I can't regular my cell phone use and am an addict...as are most americans...it's even worse with kids. They have the rest of their lives to bury their nose in their phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG let your high schoolers have phones. iPhone preferred.

teenage hands wrote that post. you forgot to add "lastest model."

Why would you buy something other than an iPhone if you can afford it?

because an equal priced android is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our 7th grader has a smart phone but everything is disabled. So right now he can text but even that we limit. We know smart phones are an extreme detriment to kid's mental health. I think there's a way to find a balance. Allowing a phone that texts and increased freedoms as they get older and show that they can be responsible... access to you tube, netflix with time limits. Social media is so destructive to kid's mental health. As an adult I can't regular my cell phone use and am an addict...as are most americans...it's even worse with kids. They have the rest of their lives to bury their nose in their phones.

7th grade is not high school. This thread is about HIGH SHOOL kids. When you have experience as the parent of a high school kid, then you can come back and tell us how easy it was on your kid to not be able to do things with his friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so interesting to me that so many ppl are asking or saying that a kids social life will suffer. Don't kids live anywhere near their friends anymore?? Can't they see each other in person?

Sure but aside from just showing up at someones door, they need to arrange it. Imagine if you could not text friends or family.

But, that really require them to have their own smartphones though?

Yes it does. It's not 1987 anymore.

I think it's great if you can get a kid through middle school without a smartphone. But it's impossible in high school. The repercussions are not worth the cost - ostracization, isolation, being left out, being uninformed. Not worth it for high school students. And part of this stage of life is learning how to manage phone usage. Whether you like it or not, it's part of life these days. You're not doing kids any favors by forcing them to be Luddites.

[Anonymous]

I agree that we shouldn’t be sheltering our kids before college. Let your kid have a basic iPhone. For the record, my daughter has a phone, gets mostly As, and she still reads when she isn’t busy with homework. She reads the most during school breaks when she doesn’t have a lot to do.

My freshman DD knows three girls without phones in her grade. All three kids play sports and get excellent grades but their social lives are all very different.

The first girl is on the quieter/introverted side and her friend group is full of people she has known since elementary school.

The second girl is a nice person with great grades but my DD says that she isn’t very well-rounded and all her conversations are about sports, she isn’t knowledgeable about pop culture and she doesn’t love reading.

The third is an outgoing extroverted girl super involved in sports and activities. She isn’t in the popular group but has lots of friends in lots of groups in addition to having a small group of best friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG let your high schoolers have phones. iPhone preferred.

teenage hands wrote that post. you forgot to add "lastest model."

Why would you buy something other than an iPhone if you can afford it?

because an equal priced android is better.

Do you even have teens? I have an android, my teens have (an older model) iPhone.

[Anonymous]

OP, don’t do this to your kid. You are making them a weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, don’t do this to your kid. You are making them a weird.

The exact attitude that we shouldn't be giving kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's so interesting to me that so many ppl are asking or saying that a kids social life will suffer. Don't kids live anywhere near their friends anymore?? Can't they see each other in person?

One of my teen’s best friends lives on our street, a few houses away. They still usually make plans by text. Neither have their license and when they get it, they won’t have their own cars so plans often involve checking with parents for rides. Sometimes they make plans on the way home from the bus but then text parents at work to see about rides. They rarely hang out at each others houses and 90% of the plans seem to involve a ride to town so they can hang out there (Starbucks) to meet other teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look into getting a Gabb phone. It looks like a cell phone so the kids blend in with the crowd. But no apps, no internet. The phone can take picture/video, do group texts, keep a calendar, calculator and stream music/audio only. $25 per month basic plan.

https://gabb.com/

$25 is crazy expensive for non internet. What a scam.

You should do as you wish, but no high schooler is blending in with a Gabb phone. At some point, you need to trust them, and they need to build maturity while you still have some access and control. I understand waiting until 8th but not sure what the point is of waiting longer.

[Anonymous]

I'm an adult and I don't have a cell phone. It's totally doable, and frankly, I wish more adults were like this. Get your screen stuff done when you're in front of a computer and then go live your life!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to socially cripple your kids, good luck.

This is such a weird take. Kids nowadays literally cannot start a conversation with another person or look them in the eyes. They bring their devices out at wildly inappropriate times (11 year old brings an iPad to a friend’s birthday party wtf) and and speak in texting acronyms. I am not worried about my child being left out on TikTok, I am worried about them becoming a socially awkward person who has no idea how to interact with a real live human being.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, don’t do this to your kid. You are making them a weird.

Kids who have smartphones from an early age are weird. Ever try to sit with them for more than five minutes or do anything in real life with them, including having a simple conversation about something non internet related? Their development has been literally re+arded by constant use of their highly addictive devices. There is enough evidence it’s terrible for them I don’t know why you all think it’s fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, don’t do this to your kid. You are making them a weird.

Kids who have smartphones from an early age are weird. Ever try to sit with them for more than five minutes or do anything in real life with them, including having a simple conversation about something non internet related? Their development has been literally re+arded by constant use of their highly addictive devices. There is enough evidence it’s terrible for them I don’t know why you all think it’s fine.

But, but, but they won't have friends, wah!