OP how is their self-restraint on their school devices? How do they keep in touch with friends? Are you worried about content, or about their communication, or about not moderating their time?

My kid had a gabb until right before 9th, when he got an iphone. The sports coach only communicate via app, teachers send reminders via app, there's a grade book app, they do unfortunately need phones.

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/

PP here. There isn't much of a distraction here because only music streaming, which isn't that different from having a CD player.

My daughter has one, so AMA.

What grade is your kid in, PP?

Anonymous wrote:I’m a huge proponent of waiting until 8th grade, but I think that by high school, it’s better that they have one. Gives you four years to teach and enforce good habits/self-regulation before they fly the coop.

This, they need to learn to handle it well. You can still restrict the apps for a couple more years.

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

+1

In your shoes I’d congratulate myself on waiting until or through 8th and then get them real phones by HS. They need to start learning to develop good boundaries on their own, and that includes with respect to phone usage.

You can give them an iphone and restrict which apps they have. They really should have a phone by high school.

OMG let your high schoolers have phones. iPhone preferred.

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/

+1 look at Gabb or Pinwheel. I am also a wait until 8th person and we haven't gotten to high school, but from what I understand it gets pretty hard to not have something. You can start slowly dabbling in the social media as they grow in high school. Apparently some sports teams communicate via social media so it all gets more complicated.

My kid has a friend without a cell phone in 9th. They play sports. I was wondering how the kid navigates practice announcements and stuff but they do. They were chatting on discord last night and I've seen my kid lend his phone. I don't know that I'd take this approach but it seems fine.

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/

PP here. There isn't much of a distraction here because only music streaming, which isn't that different from having a CD player.

My daughter has one, so AMA.

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

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/

I’m a huge proponent of waiting until 8th grade, but I think that by high school, it’s better that they have one. Gives you four years to teach and enforce good habits/self-regulation before they fly the coop.

My kids are in 8th/6th. They don't have smart phones. They have smart watches where they can text and call but no social media and basically no apps allowed. They have a shared iPad which they are allowed to use if their HW/ECs are done. It stays in our room at night (as do the watches). We read thru their texts and they have many things disabled (youtube etc). Even the watches are a distraction and i'd love to avoid giving them a phone for as long as possible. Any parents succeed in this (and I am not expecting to go 4 years without a phone...but if I can postpone it another year or two, I'd feel better).