No sane people use iPhones where I live. It was a thing of glamorous girls and people not doing actual work for some time, but now even them I don’t see with iPhones.
For me personally - as it’s something I need, but not something I want to invest into, nor something I like, the Android phone I use for these things (another SIM) was almost as cheap as the dumbphone I use for calls. Comparable to groceries for a week.
I don’t think there are iPhones one can buy for that price, ha-ha.
Yup. All my friends had cell phones and I was pretty much the only one who didn’t. That kind of sucked, but my friends were cool and worked around it.
If their friends won’t accommodate them, well, they’ve shown their true colors and perhaps they should find some better friends. Having a phone isn’t going to fix crappy friends.
Well. I don’t know how old you are. When I was in school we only had dumbphones. And not having a cell phone at all sucked LOL. Kids should absolutely be able to call and text, if no reason other than emergencies. Just not spend all day on socials.
Well, I grew up before smart phones were a thing, but dumb phones were absolutely a thing (the “cool” kids had the Motorola Razer, if that helps).
And yeah, not having a phone sucked. But I was able to bum a phone off my friends, and I carried some coins in case I needed to use a pay phone (another hint at my age).
Pay phones aren’t really a thing anymore, but kids can absolutely ask a trusted adult (e.g. a teacher) to use their phone in an emergency. My kids also know our phone numbers, our address, and rough directions to get home, so if there’s a true emergency, they can get home (e.g. get a police officer to give them a lift). We ride bikes in our neighborhood frequently enough that they can probably give turn by turn directions once they’re within a few blocks of our house. But the chances of that actually happening are so remote it’s really not worth planning for. We only take our kids to birthday parties (we meet the parents when we drop them off), school activities (we know their teachers), or friends houses, and we let them go on their own to the local parks. We give them a time to come home, and if they don’t come home when expected, they lose their privilege to go out on their own for a bit.
So I’m not concerned at all about emergencies, and I think parents are way too worried about it. If I don’t trust my kid on their own somewhere, a phone isn’t going to make me feel more comfortable. In my eyes, a phone is a privilege, and privileges are earned and can absolutely be revoked.
I’ll probably give my kids phones before they leave the house, but not until they earn that trust, and also not before they actually need one. My current target is 14yo w/ a dumb phone, and 16yo w/ a smart phone (for directions). Once I’ve given them a phone, I’ll trust them completely with it (no tracking) until they violate my trust, at which point they’ll lose it. That’s how I’d prefer to be treated as a kid, so that’s how I’ll treat them.
My kids are around that age and it’s a real struggle when all of their friends have one.
There is a growing tide of data suggesting the fight is worth it, but understand it is a serious struggle.
Much like trying to get kids to eat healthy when they are surrounded by so much awful food in the US.
I wish I didn’t need an Android phone for work, WhatsApp, Telegram, maps.
But I sadly do.
I wish I didn’t need an iPhone for work, (List of every app that is also available on Android).
But sadly I do.
No sane people use iPhones where I live. It was a thing of glamorous girls and people not doing actual work for some time, but now even them I don’t see with iPhones.
For me personally - as it’s something I need, but not something I want to invest into, nor something I like, the Android phone I use for these things (another SIM) was almost as cheap as the dumbphone I use for calls. Comparable to groceries for a week.
I don’t think there are iPhones one can buy for that price, ha-ha.
Too bad?
Yup. All my friends had cell phones and I was pretty much the only one who didn’t. That kind of sucked, but my friends were cool and worked around it.
If their friends won’t accommodate them, well, they’ve shown their true colors and perhaps they should find some better friends. Having a phone isn’t going to fix crappy friends.
Well. I don’t know how old you are. When I was in school we only had dumbphones. And not having a cell phone at all sucked LOL. Kids should absolutely be able to call and text, if no reason other than emergencies. Just not spend all day on socials.
Well, I grew up before smart phones were a thing, but dumb phones were absolutely a thing (the “cool” kids had the Motorola Razer, if that helps).
And yeah, not having a phone sucked. But I was able to bum a phone off my friends, and I carried some coins in case I needed to use a pay phone (another hint at my age).
Pay phones aren’t really a thing anymore, but kids can absolutely ask a trusted adult (e.g. a teacher) to use their phone in an emergency. My kids also know our phone numbers, our address, and rough directions to get home, so if there’s a true emergency, they can get home (e.g. get a police officer to give them a lift). We ride bikes in our neighborhood frequently enough that they can probably give turn by turn directions once they’re within a few blocks of our house. But the chances of that actually happening are so remote it’s really not worth planning for. We only take our kids to birthday parties (we meet the parents when we drop them off), school activities (we know their teachers), or friends houses, and we let them go on their own to the local parks. We give them a time to come home, and if they don’t come home when expected, they lose their privilege to go out on their own for a bit.
So I’m not concerned at all about emergencies, and I think parents are way too worried about it. If I don’t trust my kid on their own somewhere, a phone isn’t going to make me feel more comfortable. In my eyes, a phone is a privilege, and privileges are earned and can absolutely be revoked.
I’ll probably give my kids phones before they leave the house, but not until they earn that trust, and also not before they actually need one. My current target is 14yo w/ a dumb phone, and 16yo w/ a smart phone (for directions). Once I’ve given them a phone, I’ll trust them completely with it (no tracking) until they violate my trust, at which point they’ll lose it. That’s how I’d prefer to be treated as a kid, so that’s how I’ll treat them.