[News] At what age should kids have smartphones - if at all?

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Should kids under 12 have unlimited use of smartphones?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 2.2%
  • No

    Votes: 71 78.9%
  • Yes but restricted to certain times of the day

    Votes: 17 18.9%

  • Total voters
    90
  • Poll closed .


Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat






Coldeanseagull

Opinionated
Mar 13, 2013
8,361
Coldean
My business is run from my phone from booking jobs, quoting jobs to invoicing jobs. If you can’t contact the customer quickly they will be off somewhere else. I lost £200 this morning for an hours work because I missed a call and didn’t check the phone for 45 minutes.
Life is also less complicated with a smart phone parking the car, Match day tickets, plane tickets, train tickets immediate banking and fraud alerts.
Old people moaning about kids with smart phones doesn’t make any sense to me in 2024.
Going from A to B used to involve a multitude of maps, atlases and searching for a telephone box....so much more convenient nowadays.
I seem to remember in the seventies, some churchy type rector, was trying to get those little war books banned as it invoked violence in kids. There was talk the same was to be said for shoot! magazine as it associated with the football hooliganism of the time(70s). Now, mobile phones are the root cause of everything
The real risk are the phone zombies you encounter wandering across the road as you drive around...thats how most of civilisation will wipe themselves out ???
 


Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
20,693
Born In Shoreham
Going from A to B used to involve a multitude of maps, atlases and searching for a telephone box....so much more convenient nowadays.
I seem to remember in the seventies, some churchy type rector, was trying to get those little war books banned as it invoked violence in kids. There was talk the same was to be said for shoot! magazine as it associated with the football hooliganism of the time(70s). Now, mobile phones are the root cause of everything
The real risk are the phone zombies you encounter wandering across the road as you drive around...thats how most of civilisation will wipe themselves out ???
Everyone on this thread probably wakes up and checks the phone before anything else🤣
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,716
The Fatherland
Everyone on this thread probably wakes up and checks the phone before anything else🤣
I use the alarm on my phone so I wake up with my phone.
 




LamieRobertson

Not awoke
Feb 3, 2008
48,430
SHOREHAM BY SEA
Going from A to B used to involve a multitude of maps, atlases and searching for a telephone box....so much more convenient nowadays.
I seem to remember in the seventies, some churchy type rector, was trying to get those little war books banned as it invoked violence in kids. There was talk the same was to be said for shoot! magazine as it associated with the football hooliganism of the time(70s). Now, mobile phones are the root cause of everything
The real risk are the phone zombies you encounter wandering across the road as you drive around...thats how most of civilisation will wipe themselves out ???
Oh I used to love those little war books ..that and doing fake battles with friends using ‘little’ soldiers’
 










Diablo

Well-known member
Sep 22, 2014
4,386
lewes
I'm 58. Haven't got one yet.

Although work have forced one on me, mainly for two-step authorisation to use the computer at home!

67 and have had mobile phone since early days. Still have phone which use regularly for calls/texts. Have no inclination however much wife/children try to persuade me to have smartphone.
Missing out on very little. Another bonus my phone costs circa £35 to replace so is not very nickable.
 






maltaseagull

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2009
13,363
Zabbar- Malta
I found this story a little sad. I have mixed views about kids as young as 11 using smartphones especially at school, in the least I think they should be limited to certain times of the day given most kids seem use their phones to access social media which can have all sorts of mental health risks associated with it.

I can see their use for safety/keeping in touch with parents but do they need to have them whilst on school grounds?

At the end of the day, I think it is up to parents but should a child be disadvantaged/made to feel excluded in an educational environment because they don’t have one?


They should have one before they are allowed to cross the road on their own as a smart phone is like a forcefield and allows them to walk anywhere without looking!
 


Vaughan Storm

Active member
May 21, 2020
191
Worthing
I got my first phone when I was 11, it didn't need to be earlier or later. If I had one earlier, I would've probably been exposed to stuff too early on and got a bit lazy but any later and I would've lost contact with my primary school friends.
 


Vaughan Storm

Active member
May 21, 2020
191
Worthing
Increasing numbers of parents are using tracking apps - even AirTags - to keep tabs on their children.

You’d think children would react negatively to that but apparently kids actually like their parents knowing where they are every minute of the day
I definitely did not like it. I used to have location stuff on but eventually I disabled it as I realised my parents were checking me literally every couple of minutes. I'd come home and they'd talk about how I was in this restaurant and on this specific road. Not acceptable imo.
 




beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,023
Going from A to B used to involve a multitude of maps, atlases and searching for a telephone box....so much more convenient nowadays.
I seem to remember in the seventies, some churchy type rector, was trying to get those little war books banned as it invoked violence in kids. There was talk the same was to be said for shoot! magazine as it associated with the football hooliganism of the time(70s). Now, mobile phones are the root cause of everything
The real risk are the phone zombies you encounter wandering across the road as you drive around...thats how most of civilisation will wipe themselves out ???
then we had the video nasty making kids into muders and computer games making them violent introverts. back further pop music gave us problems with mods and rockers. there's always a problem with new stuff.
 






Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
20,693
Born In Shoreham
Do you take phone to bedroom ?? mine left downstairs and normally have to ring it in the morning to find it.
I do indeed sometimes emergency jobs come through during the night. Unfortunately I have to respond to the customers who spend a lot during the year and expect me to turn up.
 




Han Solo

Well-known member
May 25, 2024
2,536
Never. f*** smartphones. No other invention has caused as much pain and damage.
 


Half Time Pies

Well-known member
Sep 7, 2003
1,575
Brighton
Tip for anyone with kids, do not let them have their smartphones in their room overnight. Our kids hand their phones to us before they do to bed but if we forget to put them on silent, you can hear them pinging away all night. My 13 year olds phone once went off at 3am and it was a what's app group chat! There must be a lot of kids out there getting very little sleep!
 


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