Watch out for a motivated child. We did the same thing and my 14 year old worked

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Sep 19, 2024
7:55:54am

pinolero All-American

Watch out for a motivated child. We did the same thing and my 14 year old worked

and saved $600 or so for an iPhone.

I'm both irritated and proud. He worked his tail off but now we have to manage his phone.

We are able to keep it pretty locked down, he can't browse the internet or download apps on his own. No social media except Bereal.

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pinolero

Bio page: pinolero
Joined: Mar 16, 2008
Last login: Sep 19, 2024
Total posts: 5,936 (2 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

About what age did your kids get cell phones, and why that age?

Future_Tacos

Sep 17, 10:51am

Troomi at 13 and in Jr High

Ted Lasso

Sep 17, 10:53am

14. Seemed easier to manage high school stuff.

OrsoNero

Sep 17, 10:55am

14-15. Because they needed to communicate with us

RobAdams

Sep 17, 10:55am

iPhones are easier to lock down I think

Sep 17, 2:13pm

For some things, this may be true. Friends of ours seem to have done a good

RobAdams

Sep 17, 3:08pm

12

cheezedawg

Sep 17, 10:56am

18,18,17,16---Smart phones are drugs...wait as long as you can

Don_Juan_El_Guapo

Sep 17, 10:56am

You got soft lol

palangi

Sep 17, 11:10am

Yeah..plus my son's friend literally gifted him an iPhone...I still used every

Don_Juan_El_Guapo

Sep 17, 11:16am

Gabb phone in 6th grade. IPhone with no browsing or social media in 8th grade.

pinolero

Sep 17, 10:57am

14ish/summer before HS. With Family Link & Bark. Learned lesson: Android > Apple

Dataguy

Sep 17, 10:59am

I got a dumb phone at age 15 and a smartphone at age 18

BaseCoug

Sep 17, 10:59am

The phone I had at 15.

Jeffacka

Sep 17, 11:06am

Calling to ask a girl out and praying her dad wouldn't answer. Good times.

Sep 17, 11:26am

18.

Sep 17, 11:02am

12--and we went through some growing pains

Carnac

Sep 17, 11:02am

I just checked the screen time report for my kids. My 16 year old averages 3 hours per day on her phone. My 12 year old

cheezedawg

Sep 17, 11:08am

No social media for our kids.

Carnac

Sep 17, 11:19am

Anyone have thoughts on Be Real? My kid pushed to get it. We finally said ok.

pinolero

Sep 17, 11:40am

It’s less bad than the others. Limits you to only contacts

BaseCoug

Sep 17, 12:17pm

We got him one once he hit Jr. High. We have it locked down to where we have to

cougarfan84

Sep 17, 11:03am

13. And if I could do it over again I would wait until they are 16 or 17

DataMouth

Sep 17, 11:03am

13 - iPhone. Dont want them thinking Android is the best their life will be.

Longseason

Sep 17, 11:04am

15...not having a phone started causing issues in school. All teachers

WhirleyPop

Sep 17, 11:07am

💀

goblin

Sep 17, 1:39pm

10. Got them for free and my wife wants to be able to see where they are,

SoCalCoug

Sep 17, 11:07am

Strongly recommend reading The Anxious Generation for anyone thinking about

Nakedbootleg

Sep 17, 11:10am

Is the problem the smart phone or social media on the smart phone?

cheezedawg

Sep 17, 11:11am

Both can be a problem, but social is the rabbit hole

Carnac

Sep 17, 11:21am

For girls it’s mostly SM. For boys it’s more games and porn. Phone app designers

Nakedbootleg

Sep 17, 11:33am

My kid plays brawl stars a lot. We probably should monitor more closely

pinolero

Sep 17, 11:45am

Computers have already taken over their lives. They only go on their phones when

SoCalCoug

Sep 17, 11:44am

It really is a fantastic book. I can't recommend it enough.

KingDave

Sep 17, 12:46pm

Too early. Yes we are doing it differently with our younger kids.

Squirt

Sep 17, 11:14am

Another thought - RE security

DataMouth

Sep 17, 11:15am

I get pretty angry just thinking about this.

RobAdams

Sep 17, 11:22am

Plenty are concerned about the free speech rights of human traffickers.

BaseCoug

Sep 17, 12:24pm

It doesn’t seem complicated to me, here’s what I think

BaseCoug

Sep 17, 12:31pm

Dumb flip phone to the rescue.

Sep 18, 12:05pm

First was 15

jxncoog

Sep 17, 11:20am

My oldest got a cell phone when he went into Middle School

RockyBalboa

Sep 17, 11:29am

Flip for middle school Pinwheel phone for high school, smartphone at 16 or 17

runnincoug

Sep 17, 11:30am

10th grade. Why? Peer pressure? Did not want them to be a nerd....

BYU Grounds

Sep 17, 12:07pm

One thing we did do was, we collected the phone at 8pm each night.

BYU Grounds

Sep 17, 12:08pm

Ban them from every website except cougarboard

BaseCoug

Sep 17, 12:16pm

That's like making a kid drink the whole bottle, or smoke the whole pack

RobAdams

Sep 17, 12:24pm

Age 11, so they could contact us easily for rides after activities. It was a mistake.

KingDave

Sep 17, 12:45pm

When they are intelligent enough to know that social media is a scourge on

stoils

Sep 17, 1:04pm

13. But no browser only a few apps

DC12

Sep 17, 1:16pm

Haven't gotten any of my kids phones yet but I am thinking about getting my oldest ( 9 ) a smart watch. My Sis..

greatbam

Sep 17, 1:25pm

I'd suggest not doing that for two big reasons:

runnincoug

Sep 17, 1:44pm

I'd also add that tech can be a big distraction in the classroom and in social situations

KingDave

Sep 17, 1:51pm

100%. I'm even regretting the flip phone for my 8th grader so we now keep it

runnincoug

Sep 17, 1:59pm

RE: "WE want them because WE are anxious." : No, not really. I really don't need to know where my kids are at all..

greatbam

Sep 17, 2:28pm

Our kids tried that argument with us. The response, "Well everyone else has a phone borrow theirs to call us"

BYU Grounds

Sep 17, 2:46pm

Perhaps, but read The Anxious Generation---he shares the research there on this.

runnincoug

Sep 17, 2:59pm

Interesting insight that seems spot on. Had not considered the connection betwee

Big Daddy D

Sep 18, 8:42am

Isn’t this for parents who don’t care to watch their kids and need to find them?

Bin01015

Sep 17, 7:48pm

Man y'all parents need to learn how to use real parental controls.

goblin

Sep 17, 1:38pm

The best parental control system is to teach them how stupid and dangerous

stoils

Sep 17, 3:08pm

When my oldest hit 15, we got a phone for all three kids to share. No apps, no

chivo

Sep 17, 2:11pm

When our oldest we're 12 & 14 we got one phone to use as a "family phone". They

TailgateU

Sep 18, 8:23am

High School for Phone. Senior Year for Social Media...

tehjunction

Sep 18, 10:10am

We make our kids buy their own phones and pay for service

Cletus the Fetus

7:39am

Watch out for a motivated child. We did the same thing and my 14 year old worked

pinolero

7:55am

Sounds like you’ve raised a good kid! Well done! does he also pay for service?

Cletus the Fetus

8:03am

thats what we do...we provide the flip phone, they pay for smartphone/service

runnincoug

8:48am

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