Smart phones for children?

Thanks for all the advice. I will check with his mother if he has got parental controls and if not, I will advisor to get them…

Three of my granddaughters have smart phones. Two are at secondary school and the third was given one for Christmas as she will be starting secondary school in September.
They all have parental controls set up, their time is restricted and all have second hand phones, not the most up to date models.
I don't believe that children under 10 need a phone but the older one do, mainly to keep in touch with their parents especially if they travel to and from school alone.

Shinamae

My grandson who is 11 this week has just come over to stay with me, he’s gone out to play with his friends and has just rung me to ask if he can go to his friends and I asked him if it was is alright with his mum and he said yes it’s fine, so I thanked him for letting me know. However, he has an iPhone quite a modern one and so have all his peers. I really think there should be legislation brought in that children should just have a basic phone where they can phone somebody and text but not go on the Internet. I really worry about cyber bullying, although I don’t think it has happened to my grandson, but it is happening to children all over the country… I think 16 is plenty early enough to have a smart phone.. also, people do get mugged for their phones but if he doesn’t have one he would be ridiculed and quite possibly bullied.. just my opinion, but I think something needs to be done..

Shinamae I think 16 is plenty early enough to have a smart phone.

Seems so to me also.

But I have a landline. I may be less than au currant.

Children need smartphones for so many everyday things. To find out the times of buses and trains, to manage their money.

Both DGC have Go Henry pre-paid credit cards. Their pocket money is put into it each month plus any money they are given. It is operated by an app on their phone. You need a smartphone for that.

Children have to learn to use the internet which is necessary when they are older. There are a lot of parental controls that can be put on to keep them safe and it can be linked to your device so that you can see what they are doing online.

An advantage of having internet access is that you can have a tracker and know where they are at all times.

Children tend to get a mobile phone when they go to secondary school. They need to be able to call home to say I’ve missed the bus or can you collect me?
Of course they also use their phones for all the other uses and even if unable to they would still see undesirable content on other children’s phones. It’s a fact of modern life and can only be helped by constant education of both kids and parents.

I doubt if anyone would mug me for the mobile I usually carry. I would probably have to pay them to take it.

I only bought a smarty phone under protest because my security system would not run on the tablet. Its a nicky no name one and is smart enough to stay out of my way unless I need it. I think they are the devil's invention. Too easy to get in touch with people, track and pester them.

I see so many threads on MN about eople getting snippy texts from friends and even neighbours. My neighbours dont even have my land line number let alone my smart phone.

Yes I agree that a basic PAYG from the supermarket would be enough for kids to keep in touch. If I had kids there is no way I would have bought them an expensive smart phone or pay to top it up. I would tell them to get a job and buy their own.
Thats what my parents did with me when I wanted fancy clothes.

My daughter has Family Sharing set up on her and our 10 year old grandchild’s phone, plus parental controls, restricting access of his phone and allowing monitoring. It’s not a very recent iPhone either.

Same with our 11 year old GD. But they all tend to do a lot of their schoolwork on computer, so they're all much more tech savvy than many of us. I know GD gets guidance from school about safe use of computers and phones. In a way I'm pleased she has one because if whoever is supposed to be picking her up is late, she can contact someone. I think it's also possible to put some parental controls on the phone. GD isonly allowed to use certain aspects of it, too.