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Here's a handy-dandy guide for the easily confused:
a) If YOU would like to buy a smart phone for YOUR child, then do so.
b) If YOU don't want to buy a smart phone for YOUR child, then don't do so.
c) What other parents choose to do is none of your business.
+1
Nothing is wrong with Zimbochick, and your question is prejudicial.
I started to agree that no one "needs" a smart phone, but it absolutely does make my job easier.
As for kids, a "smart phone" isn't really about the phone. It's their social currency. It's a camera, a radio, a silent communication device. It's a mobile library, an encyclopedia and a film vault.
When kids reach middle school age, it does come in handy for safety and communication.
And it's another tool to teach your kids how to use wisely and safely.
Sure, they don't NEED a smart phone. Outhouses still serve the same purpose they used to as well, but we've moved on from those too.
Parents please wake up, take your parental powers back AND stop being a bunch of pushovers who think that a "smart phone" is required to grow up. The second you hand them a phone of any kind you are giving up things you cannot imagine.
If kids were allowed to just be kids and not be pushed into this constant online world where things go wrong in half a second we'd all be better.
Please read, watch and respond after.
I don't see the connection between simply having a smart phone and being a bully. Kids don't need a phone to be a cyber bully. Do you think they shouldn't be allowed around computers either?
My kids have plain ole cell phones. My son bought himself an ipod which does a lot of the same things minus the calling part, which isn't an issue because he has the phone. No biggie. Many of the teens we know have smart phones. I am sure my kids would happily take one too, but they have never asked - mostly because we would probably have them pay for it and they have other, more important things they wish to spend their money on.
Parents please wake up, take your parental powers back AND stop being a bunch of pushovers who think that a "smart phone" is required to grow up. The second you hand them a phone of any kind you are giving up things you cannot imagine.
If kids were allowed to just be kids and not be pushed into this constant online world where things go wrong in half a second we'd all be better.
Please read, watch and respond after.
I don't have a smartphone or even a dump hone, or a house, or a car, or a job, or a family, or an education. In fact, I'm a nomadic herder who wears sheepskin clothing and hunts wherever the caribou goes. Unfortunately, the caribou was lost in what the people of the future call I-95. So ultimately I decided to stop pretending the best way to be frugal is to insist that people should use the bare minimum to get by.
I have an irrational hatred of smartphones but maybe that will change by the time my kid is old enough to want one (she'll get a simple phone when she starts school for safety reasons) besides, smartphones will probably be outdated and something new will be around by the time she's a teenager.
It's a personal choice. My children do not manipulate me into purchasing anything. I never thought they needed smart phones. They never asked.
I thought they needed cell phones for safety issues. Lap tops for school. We provided those.
One has a smart phone (bought it him self) the other does not and does not care.
I have a flip phone.
Same here I have a flip phone .My son has purchased the fancier phones as they become available. He buys the phone but guess who pays the family phone bill!!
When she started to ride her bike out of my sight. I think she was 9ish? But it was a regular cell phone.
Then they had bring your technology to school. It was either a tablet, laptop or smartphone. I decided the smartphone which she was thrilled with. This was in 6th grade.
In that case, we might as well close the entire City-Data Parenting Forum.
Do you honestly think the OP was interested in an exchange of ideas on the topic based on the tone of the post? This particular topic has been covered endlessly on this forum. Many people who disparage the notion of children/teens having smartphones are totally ignorant of the fact that Nintendo DS, Kindles, iPod Touch, etc. etc. all have similar internet functionality. If people want a real discussion on the topic, then start a real thread.
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