Need cell phone without games and that cannot go online for playing games

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this is the right forum, but my kid (almost 14) is having issues in controlling use of cell phone. she goes on websites where she plays minecraft with friends, plays roblox, reads online cartoons and so on. we have been trying to teach her so she can grow up and be a responsible adult around electronics, but the reality is that she is glued to her phone from when she wakes up to the evening (except for at school where phone must be locked up). it has become a source of huge stress, with yelling and arguments at home all the time. taking the phone away outright seems too much since kids her age do communicate by phone or text. I would like to switch for a while to a phone that makes calls, texts and possibly has a GPS function so we can see where she is, but no damn games or ability to play Internet games. do you have any suggestions? I found some simple flip phones but they did have games. if anybody has a good suggestion I would be super-grateful. thanks

[Anonymous]

Buy any phone. Uninstall safari and all games. Leave only the things you want him to have. Then make your setting in the iTunes or google play store that they can’t download without a password.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy any phone. Uninstall safari and all games. Leave only the things you want him to have. Then make your setting in the iTunes or google play store that they can’t download without a password.

Sorry her not him.

[Anonymous]

Put applock on chrome, play store, and any app you don't want her to use. Applock is free. I use it for my 10 yr old DD. You can create different profiles, and on her profile for when she is only allowed to use it to listen to music, I put a lock on pretty much everything except the music app.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks, I will try. the thing is that she is way tech-savvier than me (I am the stereotypical parent who needs help from kids to watch a movie on Netflix) so she manages to get around whatever I have tried in the past, which was not much I admit. thanks a lot!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy any phone. Uninstall safari and all games. Leave only the things you want him to have. Then make your setting in the iTunes or google play store that they can’t download without a password.

that would not work, she would get password from DH. we are not on the same page on this, I think he is addicted too and he thinks we need to educate her. I agree on this, but when you have a kid who walks around the house in the morning half dressed with a phone in her hand with roblox on or is unable to do homework and is caught playing with phone every three minutes, I think we need to change strategy and detox. she is also slowly isolating herself and getting closer and closer to kids who spend tons of time playing. we obviously have a bigger problem here, but I am trying to do something short of locking everything into a metal box with a real lock (done that before, but she needs the phone at least). thanks

[Anonymous]

Get a flip phone. No games or internet, just texts and calls. I had one until about 2 years ago. They are basic and cheap. Mine was $15 per month on track phone.

[Anonymous]

A flip phone.
The games are terrible, my now 16 yr old had one for 2 yrs b/c he had trouble with wasting too much time on his iPhone.
He never played a game on it.
He actually used it for making calls and would talk to his friends b/c texting was a PIA.
Also, that battery life was awesome.

[Anonymous]

So glad to see flip phones getting the love. Mine hardly ever needs charging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks, I will try. the thing is that she is way tech-savvier than me (I am the stereotypical parent who needs help from kids to watch a movie on Netflix) so she manages to get around whatever I have tried in the past, which was not much I admit. thanks a lot!

You need to put the applock on Settings app as well. If you do that, there is no way to get around it unless she does a factory reset, which I suppose she could do. I check my kids' phones every once in a while to make sure there are no questionable apps and check their text messages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if this is the right forum, but my kid (almost 14) is having issues in controlling use of cell phone. she goes on websites where she plays minecraft with friends, plays roblox, reads online cartoons and so on. we have been trying to teach her so she can grow up and be a responsible adult around electronics, but the reality is that she is glued to her phone from when she wakes up to the evening (except for at school where phone must be locked up). it has become a source of huge stress, with yelling and arguments at home all the time. taking the phone away outright seems too much since kids her age do communicate by phone or text. I would like to switch for a while to a phone that makes calls, texts and possibly has a GPS function so we can see where she is, but no damn games or ability to play Internet games. do you have any suggestions? I found some simple flip phones but they did have games. if anybody has a good suggestion I would be super-grateful. thanks

I am sure others will give you specific steps but here is also some interesting perspective that you can read in full on Psychology Today website.
This is just a tinny excerpt:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201609/is-your-childs-brain-video-games

When people say my strict screen-time recommendations—which are based not just on clinical experience and research but also on how the brain works—are “not realistic,” and that children “must learn to manage technology,” my response is this:
It’s not realistic to expect the brain to adapt to intense and artificial stimulation it was never meant to handle. It’s also not realistic to expect a child with still-developing frontal lobe to control their screen-time, whether that means managing how long they play a game, how they use or misuse social media, or how they behave afterward.


Parents need to learn the science behind how screen-time overstimulates the nervous system, how this manifests as an array of symptoms and dysfunction, and what that looks like in their own child. Learning this information can literally change the course of child’s life; it helps parents to make informed and mindful screen management decisions, and steadies them from being swayed by cultural trends and misleading headlines. It puts parents in the driver’s seat.

[Anonymous]

Here is some YouTube step by step instructions that are pretty straightforward and easy to follow.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+limit+child%27s+time+on+the+phone

[Anonymous]

Flip phone.