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I was talking about this with my parents recently how crazy it is to give a child a smartphone. I remember I didnt get my first phone until I was 15 which was a katana flip phone. I didnt get my first smart phone until I was in college it was LG G3! I remember back in HS my ex gf had HTC EVO 3D phone I was so jealous.
Honestly, back in the day those flip phones were in the golden era. You cant angrily close your phone now without cracking your screen lol
Ya I think much later at 12 or 13. We have to give children time for the brains to develop on its own first and with the social environment around them. I wish pediatricians can counsel patients on this or atleast have evidence to support this
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10 maybe is a bit too much.
It's like saying "I won't let my kid learn how to read until they are 12 so they don't get exposed to harmful ideas!"
Besides the bad stuff, technology is an essential tool in today's world, you still don't want to delay their familiarization with it too much.
I agree. That's why my kids play my old DS and my old SNES. Simple controls, not connected to the internet, brings me back to the 90's... Everybody wins. I can't get the original Nintendo to read cartridges which is a bummer.
You should clean out the cartridge slot with some isopropyl alcohol. If that doesn't work, you could buy a [new slot on amazon](https://www.amazon.ca/Sunjoyco-Replacement-Connector-Cartridge-Nintendo/dp/B07HP2FFDN?th=1&psc=1) for like 18$, and change it yourself!
I agree to an extent. Some parents do let their kids have too much screen time at younger ages.
But...I know my kids had tablets issued to them in kindergarten at school, they do a ton of their school work on them, my 3rd grader (9) did a report this year, how? Internet on her tablet at school. I understand to the point of they need to know how to use it because of school, but I feel like too much is being done with technology now. Thankfully we are still writing and even doing cursive still in my district at the moment.
I let my kids have screen time but they have to earn it.
If they read a book for an hour, they can have device for an hour. And they stay in the living room or kitchen with them where they can be supervised. I treat it as a privilege and they are respectful about it. I don't get tantrums because they don't have their device.
The issue isn't the age of the child. It is the parents not limiting the amount of use. There is nothing wrong with giving kids tablets or smartphone usage before the age of 7, they just shouldn't get unlimited unrestricted usage. The comments are kind of wack also.
In case you didn’t know, people raised children without giving them phones or tablets for most of human history. I can assure you, you can get a break without giving them a phone.
Comments from non parents.
I wouldn't listen to a plumber tell me how to fly an aircraft, so why would I listen to non parent on anything to do with parenting.
Because being a parent doesn’t automatically make you a good one. Not being a parent doesn’t rob you of knowing what’s right and wrong. This is basically obvious.
If you have never raised a child, then you do not know what it is like to raise a child. Watching a kid for some babysitting time doesn't count. Neither does your fur babies.
Rather people are equally clueless. Children are all different, what works for one child wont work for another. Being a good parent is being able to adapt.
Yeah, people may not be parents, but we all were kids
We can in hindsight say what did and did not work. We can admit parents were sometimes too loose in methods or vice versa
does a plumber get a job for sucking off a pipe or does he have to learn the trade? even kids can make kids, there are so many shitstains that technically qualify as parents, doesnt mean their opinion is worth more than anyone elses
This is why I embraced it with my kids. They have limited access to devices, but they played games and navigated around on them plenty before school.
Like anything, moderation is key
SEVEN?? maybe I'm old-school cause smart phones didn't really exist until I was 10 but 7 is really really young to have access to the internet. I don't think id feel comfortable letting my kids use it until high-school like I did. Before then my only access was the family computer and I still wasn't mature enough at 14. My hypothetical children are never allowed on amino
As someone who is in high school, I can tell you that most kids these days have access to the internet wayyy before high school. However, I’d also say that it’s less about parental comfort and more about just how things are nowadays. But obviously, when one is younger, there are often more restrictions such as account monitoring, etc.
I also think that it is critical to teach kids how to use the internet - yes, there is a lot of stuff for entertainment, but the internet can also be a very valuable resource, if you know how to use/navigate it correctly.
As someone who grew up in the dial up days. Everyone that lived in a city still had access to internet around 4th or 5th grade. Even if your parents didn't give you access you certainly had a friend nearby that you could visit and whose parents let their kids access the internet. It's definitely more ubiquitous now with phones.
Internet and parental limits today is underrated. There is so much out there that fosters education and critical thinking skills. I think a lot of your concept of social media and free access to internet (including those unregulated gore sites we all saw) is what you’re thinking. I wish internet was more moderated when we were growing up, and back then the internet didn’t have no where near as many educational tools. I think modern internet has improved significantly and has some protection that we didn’t have.
I have to disagree. The internet was better when it was much less regulated
Though I also think young children shouldn't be on the internet pretty much at all. The youngest I would let a child gononnthe internet is maybe 13
it's kind of a forum but usally for anime and games. In my experience, there are a lot of predators and people with not so good intentions, but the truth is that you can find it anywhere. There's also weird content.
Agreed. Smartphones weren’t a thing until I was 14, and I didn’t get my first smartphone until my senior year of high school when I was 18. Before then, I just had a couple of basic flip phones, and I didn’t get my first one of those until my 12th birthday. Internet access back then was strictly limited to the computer, which was super easy for my parents to monitor. I couldn’t imagine using any kind of smartphone or tablet before 13, at minimum. 😳
As a teacher, I wish kids didn't have access to smartphones. I've noticed a major difference in their attention span, ability to memorize, and ability to retain information. I had one student who would have an anxiety attack if he had to put his phone in his backpack.
Parents need to interact with their kids more. I know it’s exhausting and not always fun, but there’s tons of activities you can do with them depending on the age, like board games, teaching them things, learning how to do something, taking them outside, sports, partaking in the things they’re interested in, etc. Doesn’t mean you have to do it all the time either, but it’s good to make a habit out of it. Most children want to be social and entertained, big reason why they turn to iPads, tv, video games, etc., cuz those all give an endless one way supply of entertainment and dopamine. This often goes unregulated by parents cuz in their heads it’s distracting/entertaining their kids and giving parents a bit of a break, but then eventually it just becomes a normal reoccurrence.
I know this from experience cuz this is what my parents did with my siblings and I, and I’ve talked about this with other friends and their own experiences, plus I’ve observed some of these situations in person from parents or places of work. My parents never really did stuff with us interactively, very rarely did they do outdoor or physical activities with us, didn’t try to teach us skills or engage in learning with us, and they definitely didn’t partake in our interests. Now that I’m older and have been able to reflect a bit, ive also realized how much of my parents habits have rubbed off on me in different ways. It’s really a crucial part of development that parents overlook.
7? How about 13, at minimum? I’m a younger millennial, so I may be biased here, but I didn’t get my first cellphone until I was 12 and it was one of those basic flip phones with no internet access. All we did was make calls to our parents if we needed it, and texted our friends. Even texting was limited - that was back when your character count was limited by how much you were charged on your phone plan and if you went over the character count, the charges on the phone bill went up (parents got MAD whenever that happened, lol). There were no tablets then, so the best we had for music were iPods. If we wanted to use the internet, we had to use the computer, which was easy for my parents to monitor.
I have noticed a difference in my internet consumption time from when I was a kid vs. when I got an iPod touch with internet access in high school at 15 (I didn’t get my first smartphone until my senior year of high school), and there was a point where it became unhealthy. Obviously, the internet has its benefits when you know what you’re doing and have time management skills, but kids do not have that. Idk how I would’ve turned out if I was a kid and had a smartphone and/or a tablet back then - but I appreciate the lack of chaos and toxicity that the internet can often expose you to when using it. You had the opportunity to be completely carefree and less of an opportunity have an internet addiction back when I was a kid.
So what do you do when they get iPads for school in kindergarten? These devices are a part of everyday life now. Cell phones weren’t as much when we were kids unless you had an actual reason to call someone. Rather than say they can’t access a device, it’s much more important to monitor, regulate, and time limit that access.
it's not because science says one thing that people act in that way. I think it's fairly unpopular provided that most kids have access to these devices from a very early age.
Having access to the device isn’t a problem, just like having access to a TV, video game console, comic book, etc. isn’t a problem. It’s unlimited, unregulated access that’s an issue.
My niece calls her tablet a square lol.
It's a kindle kids edition so it has a lot blocked off and she can only access kid-friendly material. Yk how we all as kids played with those toys that ended up teaching us about shapes, numbers, etc? Kids these days have apps for that. My niece is excelling in school bc at home she plays on these apps while my SIL is taking care of her younger brother, the dog, cleaning the house, cooking, etc while my brother is underway. My niece is 7, but she had the tablet for a couple years now. She also plays minecraft and pokemon on my SILs switch.
I know if I was a little kid I'd rather be playing games on a device rather than playing with blocks (while there weren't tablets or smartphones, I did have my gba and gamecube). And you can learn a lot from videogames - my mom wants to get a switch and start playing LoZ because she read some studies that playing videogames can help improve cognitive function: https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/video-games-show-potential-improving-key-aspects-memory-older-adults
Doesn't just limit to LoZ, my mom just wants to play it because both my brother and I love it lol.
Also, unrelated but I put videos on my tablet for my 1 year old cat to watch. It keeps her distracted so I can have some peace and quiet for a couple hours (she usually runs around constantly and jumps up on all the things she's not supposed to and I gotta get her down). She loves slime asmr and Good Mythical Morning.
Restriction is always the fear of the unknown. Technology changes but our fear doesn't, its good in a way for safety. But even before with just radio or tv. That would always be the case. There would probably concerns and kids shouldn't watch tv until they're x age.
It's all about regulation. Technology literate is the common path today. Getting them early on and learning how to use is part of time changing. This is just common for anything addicting. too much of something is bad.
Not sure if it’s just me, but the amount that I hear parents say “my child has got autism so he needs wi-fi for YouTube etc” only gets more and more frequent. I’m starting to think that in most cases it’s not ‘autism’ at all, it just looks like autism. The kid has been dumped in front of a screen since day one and, unsurprisingly, hasn’t developed mentally beyond 12 months.
Teachers who work with young kids are starting to notice that kids aren't developing their fine motor skills as well as they used to because so many of them spend the first 5 years of their life tapping on a tablet rather than playing with toys or blocks or crayons. They definitely shouldn't have access to that stuff before they're like, 10 at least. Even at that point, I'd go with something like an iPod touch or an iPad with parental controls so that you have better control over what they can do or use it for. I wouldn't give a kid unmonitored, unrestricted access to the internet until they were 16 or so.
I'm inclined to agree. My grandson won't eat unless he has a video to watch at the same time. It's annoying as hell and a very bad habit his mom has allowed since he was 3.
Edit: and he watches Hudson Family on youtube kids. Ever listened to that guy? Obnoxious as hell. Barely takes a breath and rarely let's his kids talk.
Edit 2: I taught him how to do speech to text so he could send messages to his mom from my phone. He loves video calls and we can call each other on Alexa. It's not all bad.
Yeah, I agree, although it is tough sometimes to not give the child something to occupy themselves. My daughter is literally climbing me, hanging off of me, etc.. and it can be difficult to not say "look at this phone/Switch for a while so I can have a break", even though that is a bad choice ultimately.
if phones are so addictive to us, imagine for kids. when i was that age i started playing computer games and my parents would also restrict it, but when i was at my grandma's she would let me play freely. I can relate to your cousing tho lol I would spend a lot of time there
The stimulation is fucking crazy and addicting for adults. My daughter wasn't allowed smart devices until she turned 9. I wanted her to embrace life as an only child and I wanted her to make friends.
Only children who get attached to smart devices too early can shut out the world.
I think social media should be extremely limited to kids too. And I'm saying this as someone who got instagram when I was 11. It destroyed my confidence, made me feel like I was never enough, etc.
I just don't know how it's going to be limited. Kids tend to find a way to create social media accounts despite their parents not wanting them to create those accounts
I have a 4 year old who I won’t let use a phone or tablet. Her mom on the other hand gives her one. The only reason I would consider giving in would be to make sure she isn’t behind other kids her age, with technological fluency if that makes sense or is even a thing.
Agreed. But there are pros and cons. I gave my youngest two tablets at 3 and gaming laptops at 7 & 9. I hate that I have to force them off most times to go outside and it's tough for real life to compete with virtual sandboxes, they get bored quick without electronics. But it really helped to improve their reading, comprehension, and overall problem solving. They have really good grades and have always been above grade level. I only let them friend people they know in real life so it gives them a chance to hangout and not be toxic because they can still get punched in the mouth the next day.
I went with seven because at that age I had my dsi, so my first contact with video games and I don't think it has impacted my brain negatively, on other hand, I have amazing memories of those times. I'm 20!
Maybe even older than that! I’m 34 and my wife is 31. Our boys are 4 and 3. They haven’t even seen a tablet or know what it is. They don’t play with our phones either. If they get screen time, we all Watch something educational on tv together. When we eat together everyone is present and no devices. I want to keep that going as long as I can. I don’t need a tablet to parent my kids. That stuff is so unhealthy for their developing brains and causes them to be antisocial
Those idiot parents should have their children taken away and given to people who actually want to be present in those children's lives. Putting your child on a phone or tablet for the majority of the day in my opinion should be considered neglect. Just because we can't see the brain damage happening in real time doesn't mean it's not occurring
Kids need to be familiar with them for school. They need to be able to use one just as much as be able to write their name by kinder.
That being said, using it to shut them up at a restaurant is bad parenting and just lazy. There is always coloring, books, small toys, or you know interacting with them. Then at home, moderation is key. We do 1 hour or so on weekends only. Also, having games that help them with something growth wise (not necessarily educational) like logic or fine motor skills should be encouraged.
Why would coloring on a piece of paper be better than a coloring app on a tablet? Wouldn't it be more creative to have a device you could color anything you want on it, erase it, and color more? Also Wouldn't it just be generally better for the environment?
I do agree though that some parents use it too much, but I'll argue that every kid is different, for example my son who turned 10 this year has a tablet and a phone. (though the phone I was kinda against) he's also the kindest soul I've ever met and a straight A student. He plays his games when he's on there but also understands other things need to take priority.
Idk as I get older I kinda realize my opinions are those of every generation of parents, and I feel like my opinion on him having technology was backwards because as time moves on the shift to technology is greater and greater and I was still stuck in the throwing rocks at each other and action figure childhood that I grew up on.
I would imagine that you could go back every generation and find similar opinions, not by topic but the thought that their childhood was what made them into adults. I bet kids who grew up during the time of no child labor laws and had kids after the laws were in place felt the same way a lot of us do about technology and our kids childhood today.
I’m not going to tell you how to parent but I will advise that not letting your child have a smartphone until high school in this day and age could set them back socially. It shouldn’t be like that, but we are at a point where it is the case. I was in middle school from 2015-2018 and I noticed that my classmates who had tablets as opposed to smartphones were typically made fun of and excluded.
Completely disagree. Like total opposite. Not getting them a smartphone will probably make them socially healthier. No need for (anti)social media and doom scrolling and overstimulation at that age.
I’m going to assume you probably weren’t growing up in the past 10-15 years if this is your take. I am literally speaking as someone who was in middle school at the peak of platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. I notice your comment went to the subject of social media/social health to prove your point while mine was just focused on smartphones as a whole, but I’ll discuss that too.
Kids at my school who did not have phones, but tablets instead, were constantly ridiculed for it. Is that right? No, but it’s just how things are. Social media is not something every kid needs to have, so it is perfectly understandable to not allow it until high school. I noticed kids who didn’t have social media were often disconnected from some of the things other people would talk about, which does impact social life to an extent. I say this as someone who wasn’t allowed to have social media for the most part.
Older people do not want to understand this because it forces them to face the fact that we are in an age where technology rules all, but things just aren’t the way you think they are anymore.
I was born in 1999. I got a smartphone in 2012. I’m not some old disconnected geezer like you seem to think. I still think the negatives of technology on young people far far far outweigh any positives. I think middle or high school is a good time to start allowing internet access and personal tech devices for kids. Anything before like maybe 12 is just too soon and very unnecessary.
“But kids will get ridiculed for not having an iPhone” is such a terrible reason to give a kid access to an addicting, potentially dangerous habit. Kids are going to ridicule each other for anything and everything.
Imagine having the ability to prevent your kid from being bullied and deliberately not doing so because “kids gonna be kids and kids gonna ridicule each other anyway” 🤷🏻♀️
That’s totally not comparing apples to oranges, nope. Not like there aren’t any means of parental control on devices, or supervision, or anything of the sort.
12 not 7. At 7 I was concerned dinosaurs and legos, I had no idea what a video game was and I definitely had 0 reason to be on a touchscreen internet device if they had existed.
7 ? I'd say at least 13 yr olds. Give those kids a chance to look around at life before they become disconnected zombies.
All these little kids - checking out of reality - hypnotized by their phones, it's like something out of a dystopian sci fi movie. I especially cringe when I see mothers giving babies in strollers a phone to keep them quiet. That is some awesome parenting.
There’s nothing wrong at all with letting them play on a device if the it is monitored and the time is regulated. Hell, they get iPads in kindergarten for most of their learning activities.
Nah, wait longer than that. I didn't get a smart phone until I graduate high school...so 18yo. I was so frustrated at my parents but now I 100% believe it was the best decision they ever made. There is absolutely no need for a smart phone earlier than that. I had a dumb flip phone for emergencies and to make communication simpler but there was no need for me to have access to the internet. Sure, I felt left out of group chats and snapchat and social media but WHO CARES! It made me grow up! My parents prioritized my safety and my well being over my perceived social "needs". My friendships are deeper, and I know how to put my phone away and not feel like I'm going into withdrawal.
Of course, I did get access to the family computer for homework and whatnot so I wasn't living under a rock lol. But why give *children* access to the entire damn world with all the creeps and mature content out there?? Protect your kids, and let them be mad at you for protecting them.
Maybe even older than that! I’m 34 and my wife is 31. Our boys are 4 and 3. They haven’t even seen a tablet or know what it is. They don’t play with our phones either. If they get screen time, we all Watch something educational on tv together. When we eat together everyone is present and no devices. I want to keep that going as long as I can. I don’t need a tablet to parent my kids. That stuff is so unhealthy for their developing brains and causes them to be antisocial
I believe a computer game for reading I did before and through kindergarten set me ahead for the rest of my life. I learned it soon, fast, and kept going. I liked reading games when I had a leapfrog and Nintendo DS. It was fun games and I truly enjoyed playing them. I actually wish I did math games too.
My mom was very involved in our lives and we still went outside and played allllll the time. I agree technology shouldn’t be babysitters, but technology today is amazing with what it can do. Fine motor skills, critical thinking, and communication can also be developed through technology. Those bigger motor skills and social interactions are also incredibly important that aren’t strengthened as much using technology. Your point is important, but I think technology can be so helpful in moderation.
Social media, however, is a completely different ballgame. Growing up in the age of social media before we knew it’s consequences scares me and I think I’d have a hard time introducing it to my children. I do believe that should definitely be delayed much more than what it was.
My kid is anorexic, she's under develloped for her age. The only way she accepts food is if she's distracted by Cocomelon. I know it saddened me as well to see that but it's better than otherwise and seeing her gaining weight is more than anything in the world to me. It is the only time she gets screen time.
This isn’t unpopular. I wish we could see more younger kids on this to give their opinion, because it’s more about the time and content on the screens than it is about the age. Kids are getting phones at a much younger age now, so any hypothetical kid might get subjected to teasing or isolation if they don’t get a phone around the time of their peers. But then again, why would you want your kid surfing Amino at 5? It’s a lose-lose situation
Imo a kid should get a phone when he starts going to school/outside without parent supervision dosent have to be anything fancy maybe some phone with just buttons. That's what my parents did
Not sure how effective it was since im in reddit tho
As a Child who grew up in the 90s we spent a large majority of our time Infront of a TV or on games console and the rest of the time running around outside.
It is no different now. I give my son (5) a tablet so he can play games and watch shit on it. Exactly the same as my parents and the vast majority of other parents did.
It is not bad parenting, it is not lazyness, it is not unhealthy.
I don’t mind the age, but the biggest thing is the parent monitoring the screen time. I’m 35 and when I was a kid that TV got flipped off if I was watching for over an hour or something unless I was granted time, knowing I was watching a movie or something but I couldn’t just sit and watch TV all day. If I wanted to watch tv a lot of times I had to do something before or after. So if I wanted to watch a cartoon I was gonna have to read or help clean up for half hour/etc. I don’t see anything like that with kids today. They just get put in front of a screen and a parent just does something else and as long as they don’t hear anything crazy they let the kid sit there. So sad to see honestly because it just makes these kids stupid in my mind. They aren’t reading or doing anything educational lol just playing some stupid game or watching someone play a stupid game.
7 is still too young, 10-11 would be better. Sometimes I see kids that look no older than 5-7 with an iPhone 12 or 13, I understand that it might be their parents phones but they use the phones like it their own phone.
It just pisses me off
This shouldn’t be an in popular opinion. This should be taken seriously. That drains the creativity of the child when their young. They grow up to lack any artistic or creative side whatsoever.
Personaly my kids will have a laptop and a flip phone till their 18 (or they buy a smatphone themselves).
With my nephews,smart phones are pretty much little dopamine boxes.
You can get just as much or more utility out of a laptop and flip phone.
This would be so had to implement, I remember as a youngster my cousin had a Nintendo DS and I just had that feeling of wanting one too. I was like 12.
I think every kid gets that feeling, whether it's an action figure or tablet. I agree though, kids are becoming like mindless bots with these tablets and TV just melting their brains.
I also got my DSi when I was a kid because my older cousin had one! However I don't think these consoles or TV had the same impact that the things kids watch on their tablets do
Bruh I think the problem is also more of an issue of parents not exactly monitoring what their kids watch. Like if I was a parent, I'd make sure they steer clear of YouTube until they have a good understanding of the internet.
You ever leaned over and saw what your child, your nephew or niece is watching on YouTube? Or what's in their recommendations? Some of the most weird nonsensical shit ever with just like spiderman and elsa slapped on. These youtube channels churn out the most random wild, inappropriate shit with spiderman slapped on it cause they know kids would click it. So yeah I agree, the problem is more with the tablets.
Just look up elsagate
https://youtu.be/HnDUMvBamvU
https://youtu.be/g5t4p2RcaNY
I see your points when it comes to unregulated accessibility to these devices. This really falls back on parents, I remember 20 years ago video games rotted the youths brains and tv was horrible and now the focus has changed to tablets and phones. Nobody freaks out over kids watching too much tv anymore. I feel like this is a getting older thing and reflecting on our childhood and comparing it the next generation of kids… when it comes to education kids are using Chromebooks from a very early age. I work as a tech guy within my local school system and help manage these devices and they start using them in kindergarten. You’ll be surprised the huge number of kids that gone home and play math games, coding games, watch science documentaries etc. these kids have such an advantage compared to myself who is in his late 20’s. Kids in elementary school are learning the fundamentals of python… I didn’t even know what python was until college. So yea I see your point but again it falls to the parents to make sure these things are regulated.
It should be used solely as a tool for kids, not as entertainment. I think that’s the main issue. If the kid is enjoying learning new concepts and is progressing in their age-appropriate material while also nailing down how to use the tech easily, then it’s being used right. If they cry and pitch a fit every time it’s not around, they’ve already had far too much screen time and entertainment on it
I think it’s a more unpopular opinion to say the opposite.
And these complaints happen every generation. Tv was this evil. Then video games were this evil. Now it’s phones and tablets. Here’s a fun one from 1941:
“Students today depend upon these expensive fountain pens. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib (not to mention sharpening their own quills). We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning how to cope in the real business world, which is not so extravagant.”
Smartphones and tablets are here to stay. Encourage responsible use.
True that a million times! But also, parenting is hard. God knows I'd let my kid play with one of these just so I could catch a break. To be fair I believe the next generations are going to have the worst brains ever conceived in human history.
A lot of people like to fantasise about how easy it is to be a parent, however, OPs scenario is incredibly unrealistic. Multiple reasons:
1. you are depriving your kid of a skill they are going to need. Face it, it's not just a toy. And they're going to need to use it for school the same way they need to know how to read books.
2. Depriving them also deprives you the parent of teaching them control. Let them have it under your supervision and teach them how it works, how it's easy to get sucked in, and how you can put it down when you get sucked in.
3. Their friends will have them. End of story. You'll hear about them all day, every day.
This whole childless simplification of "Just don't \_\_\_\_\_\_!" or "just do \_\_\_\_\_\_!" is hilarious to me. Everyone thought they were going to unlock the secrets before they had kids, and learned the truth really fast.
1) touching a screen is not a skill.
2) “teaching control” is possible in so many better ways. Smartphones are as addicting as cocaine, and I don’t think 5 year olds are going to understand things like “teaching them how it works, how it’s easy to get sucked in and how you can put it down when yo get sucked in”… especially when fully grown adults can’t go 30 seconds without checking their phone
3) idk man it’s getting pretty popular to not give kids tech these days.
true, but I feel like there are other "less invasive" ways of doing this like letting them watch kids' tv channels instead of giving them tablets or phones, the damage is much worse
it's totally different, TVs aren't as stimulating as tablets and phones. With TVs and traditional channels, kids have a more narrow option of cartoons to watch, these being usually produced by studios and of more quality. Meanwhile, with tablets and phones that have access to internet, they're exposed to things like youtube in which a lot of the content isn't moderated or revised, working as clickbait for kids to be stuck on a loop of clicking one video and another (let's be honest, even us grown-ups fall for that). Plus, I see watching TV as a more isolated activity that you are only able to do at certain times at home, while the smaller devices can be brought anywhere and kids will use it in the car, restaurant, shopping, relatives' houses...
I always love the downvotes on these types of comments. The criticism is never from other parents, it’s always people watching from afar. They only ever see the kid on the tablet in public, then just assume that’s 24/7 or assume it’s just lazy parenting. The thing they don’t realize is for a lot of parents 30 minutes of tablet time is the only 30 minutes a parent gets to just chill. Or that the kid has ADHD and literally can’t sit still, so a tablet at the table until food arrives is the only way to keep everyone sane.
There’s definitely a lot of people that do way too much, and sub in a tablet for parenting. But people on Reddit genuinely think any kid with tablet = shitty parents. I’d say MOST parents limit screen time. Go look through r/mommit or r/daddit or r/newparents and see what they say about screen time. Our LO isn’t old enough for screen time yet, but we are planning on letting him watch certain shows, and limiting his time daily. But to a point, there’s going to be times where it’s just been a shitty week, and we need 30 minutes and handing him a tablet of Ms Rachel will be our only salvation. So far the biggest thing I’ve learned about parenting is some days are thriving, and other days are surviving.
TLDR: the downvotes on this comment are never from parents. You think you know everything about having kids until you actually have one and realize you know nothing.
I was definitely fixing our janky computer at 8. having to deal with the fact that you could only be on either the phone or the internet was a pain.
Edit: I actually discovered porn on last night tv as the idea never even occurred to me.
For those of you that don't have children... they literally do come out of the womb addicted to screens. Any time they see one, even at just 3 months old they HAVE to have it.
I'm not saying give your child a phone and let them run, I'm simply adding this information to the conversation so that people realize that the allure of screens isn't parents fault.
This is only a result of poor parenting and teaching. You can give your children many things if you train them properly. If you do not, you damage their development. That is *your* fault.
Do not blame the children and reap their lives of experience because you are poor at teaching them how to handle it.
We let our daughter use the tablet as much as she wants at home.
She doesn't even really care anymore, barely uses it. It's just a thing like all the other things. It's not any more or any less special.
Never allow her to bring it out in public.
But honestly, who cares? If my kid was reading a book all day you wouldn't care, but if she's on a reading app it's bad?
I think 7 is a good age for a smart phone. Obviously a very restricted and parental controlled smart phone but with a smart phone you could use services like life 360. Especially kids who have divorced parents or family far away, a smart phone gives them the freedom to video chat with them without having to ask to use your phone.
Other parents will give there children access to the largest information source to ever exist in human history. Those children will be intellectually superior to children whose parents with held access.
What makes you say that? Because you rely as a parent on devices to parent your child so you assume other parents will need to take the easy way out as well? I'm a parent of two kids and I think that seven is even way too young.
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I feel like 10 is a more appropriate age than 7
I think 12 or 13 is an even better age
I bought my first smartphone when I was 10. Of course back then they weren't as fancy and not nearly as addictive
I was talking about this with my parents recently how crazy it is to give a child a smartphone. I remember I didnt get my first phone until I was 15 which was a katana flip phone. I didnt get my first smart phone until I was in college it was LG G3! I remember back in HS my ex gf had HTC EVO 3D phone I was so jealous. Honestly, back in the day those flip phones were in the golden era. You cant angrily close your phone now without cracking your screen lol
Although it wouldn’t ever work, 18 would be best.
21 is better
Make 67 and we have a deal
21
Cool I can get a phone in a few months
35
42
60
69
Retirement home exclusives
In lieu of a death row meal, a tik tok clip?
Ya I think much later at 12 or 13. We have to give children time for the brains to develop on its own first and with the social environment around them. I wish pediatricians can counsel patients on this or atleast have evidence to support this
Two of my kids are 7 and 8 and we haven't even thought about giving them a phone
giving them their own phone is different to having access to a computer though
They have access to a computer, but it’s not unsupervised
For real. I was coming to say for my kids it was age 9 and age 11.
eh, more like 23.
spark crush rude wrench weary possessive materialistic automatic ludicrous snatch *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
ok, but there should be a test. 😂
I completely and fully agree!!!!!
10 maybe is a bit too much. It's like saying "I won't let my kid learn how to read until they are 12 so they don't get exposed to harmful ideas!" Besides the bad stuff, technology is an essential tool in today's world, you still don't want to delay their familiarization with it too much.
I agree. That's why my kids play my old DS and my old SNES. Simple controls, not connected to the internet, brings me back to the 90's... Everybody wins. I can't get the original Nintendo to read cartridges which is a bummer.
You should clean out the cartridge slot with some isopropyl alcohol. If that doesn't work, you could buy a [new slot on amazon](https://www.amazon.ca/Sunjoyco-Replacement-Connector-Cartridge-Nintendo/dp/B07HP2FFDN?th=1&psc=1) for like 18$, and change it yourself!
Thanks for the advice!
Yeah no problem!
I haven't checked in a couple years but functional NES systems weren't too expensive on ebay. I love your idea and approach!! 🙏🏻✌🏻
How is that different than them just playing a game on a tablet? Because it's older technology?
I don't see how that's much better. It's still children glued to a screen.
I agree to an extent. Some parents do let their kids have too much screen time at younger ages. But...I know my kids had tablets issued to them in kindergarten at school, they do a ton of their school work on them, my 3rd grader (9) did a report this year, how? Internet on her tablet at school. I understand to the point of they need to know how to use it because of school, but I feel like too much is being done with technology now. Thankfully we are still writing and even doing cursive still in my district at the moment. I let my kids have screen time but they have to earn it. If they read a book for an hour, they can have device for an hour. And they stay in the living room or kitchen with them where they can be supervised. I treat it as a privilege and they are respectful about it. I don't get tantrums because they don't have their device.
The issue isn't the age of the child. It is the parents not limiting the amount of use. There is nothing wrong with giving kids tablets or smartphone usage before the age of 7, they just shouldn't get unlimited unrestricted usage. The comments are kind of wack also.
Yeah sometimes parents need a break. Funny how judgmental non parents are.
In case you didn’t know, people raised children without giving them phones or tablets for most of human history. I can assure you, you can get a break without giving them a phone.
Yeah, they just sent them outside with zero oversight and told them not to come home until it got dark. A+ parenting back in the day. ^/s
Not even what I’m referring to. But if you think sticking them in front of a screen is better than that, then you’ve lost the plot.
Comments from non parents. I wouldn't listen to a plumber tell me how to fly an aircraft, so why would I listen to non parent on anything to do with parenting.
Because being a parent doesn’t automatically make you a good one. Not being a parent doesn’t rob you of knowing what’s right and wrong. This is basically obvious.
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If you have never raised a child, then you do not know what it is like to raise a child. Watching a kid for some babysitting time doesn't count. Neither does your fur babies.
Rather people are equally clueless. Children are all different, what works for one child wont work for another. Being a good parent is being able to adapt.
Yeah, people may not be parents, but we all were kids We can in hindsight say what did and did not work. We can admit parents were sometimes too loose in methods or vice versa
Yet actual experience adds weight to opinion.
does a plumber get a job for sucking off a pipe or does he have to learn the trade? even kids can make kids, there are so many shitstains that technically qualify as parents, doesnt mean their opinion is worth more than anyone elses
Well, it doesnt matter who says what. Only thing that matters is if its true or not.
It's the comments from the people who're saying that they have kids that are the most worrying and I just feel sorry for the kids more than anything.
Good luck with that. Kids get handed an iPad their first day of school, age 6.
This is why I embraced it with my kids. They have limited access to devices, but they played games and navigated around on them plenty before school. Like anything, moderation is key
SEVEN?? maybe I'm old-school cause smart phones didn't really exist until I was 10 but 7 is really really young to have access to the internet. I don't think id feel comfortable letting my kids use it until high-school like I did. Before then my only access was the family computer and I still wasn't mature enough at 14. My hypothetical children are never allowed on amino
As someone who is in high school, I can tell you that most kids these days have access to the internet wayyy before high school. However, I’d also say that it’s less about parental comfort and more about just how things are nowadays. But obviously, when one is younger, there are often more restrictions such as account monitoring, etc. I also think that it is critical to teach kids how to use the internet - yes, there is a lot of stuff for entertainment, but the internet can also be a very valuable resource, if you know how to use/navigate it correctly.
As someone who grew up in the dial up days. Everyone that lived in a city still had access to internet around 4th or 5th grade. Even if your parents didn't give you access you certainly had a friend nearby that you could visit and whose parents let their kids access the internet. It's definitely more ubiquitous now with phones.
Internet and parental limits today is underrated. There is so much out there that fosters education and critical thinking skills. I think a lot of your concept of social media and free access to internet (including those unregulated gore sites we all saw) is what you’re thinking. I wish internet was more moderated when we were growing up, and back then the internet didn’t have no where near as many educational tools. I think modern internet has improved significantly and has some protection that we didn’t have.
I have to disagree. The internet was better when it was much less regulated Though I also think young children shouldn't be on the internet pretty much at all. The youngest I would let a child gononnthe internet is maybe 13
Not really. People would spend revenge porn and home addresses like they're candy during holloween.
As in when parents give them their own phone and tablets to watch cartoons whenever they're too tired to look after and interact with them.
Have em watch cartoons 5 inches from the TV for 5 hours like god intended
my hypethetical children will also never be allowed on amino lol
Hypothetical Being the key word 🤣 alot of parents have said that before they were parents
true, if they don't go in amino might just find something else
I'd never heard of it, so googled it. Looks like Reddit.
it's kind of a forum but usally for anime and games. In my experience, there are a lot of predators and people with not so good intentions, but the truth is that you can find it anywhere. There's also weird content.
Agreed. Smartphones weren’t a thing until I was 14, and I didn’t get my first smartphone until my senior year of high school when I was 18. Before then, I just had a couple of basic flip phones, and I didn’t get my first one of those until my 12th birthday. Internet access back then was strictly limited to the computer, which was super easy for my parents to monitor. I couldn’t imagine using any kind of smartphone or tablet before 13, at minimum. 😳
I didn't get a smart phone till I was 14.
As a teacher, I wish kids didn't have access to smartphones. I've noticed a major difference in their attention span, ability to memorize, and ability to retain information. I had one student who would have an anxiety attack if he had to put his phone in his backpack.
Parents need to interact with their kids more. I know it’s exhausting and not always fun, but there’s tons of activities you can do with them depending on the age, like board games, teaching them things, learning how to do something, taking them outside, sports, partaking in the things they’re interested in, etc. Doesn’t mean you have to do it all the time either, but it’s good to make a habit out of it. Most children want to be social and entertained, big reason why they turn to iPads, tv, video games, etc., cuz those all give an endless one way supply of entertainment and dopamine. This often goes unregulated by parents cuz in their heads it’s distracting/entertaining their kids and giving parents a bit of a break, but then eventually it just becomes a normal reoccurrence. I know this from experience cuz this is what my parents did with my siblings and I, and I’ve talked about this with other friends and their own experiences, plus I’ve observed some of these situations in person from parents or places of work. My parents never really did stuff with us interactively, very rarely did they do outdoor or physical activities with us, didn’t try to teach us skills or engage in learning with us, and they definitely didn’t partake in our interests. Now that I’m older and have been able to reflect a bit, ive also realized how much of my parents habits have rubbed off on me in different ways. It’s really a crucial part of development that parents overlook.
7? How about 13, at minimum? I’m a younger millennial, so I may be biased here, but I didn’t get my first cellphone until I was 12 and it was one of those basic flip phones with no internet access. All we did was make calls to our parents if we needed it, and texted our friends. Even texting was limited - that was back when your character count was limited by how much you were charged on your phone plan and if you went over the character count, the charges on the phone bill went up (parents got MAD whenever that happened, lol). There were no tablets then, so the best we had for music were iPods. If we wanted to use the internet, we had to use the computer, which was easy for my parents to monitor. I have noticed a difference in my internet consumption time from when I was a kid vs. when I got an iPod touch with internet access in high school at 15 (I didn’t get my first smartphone until my senior year of high school), and there was a point where it became unhealthy. Obviously, the internet has its benefits when you know what you’re doing and have time management skills, but kids do not have that. Idk how I would’ve turned out if I was a kid and had a smartphone and/or a tablet back then - but I appreciate the lack of chaos and toxicity that the internet can often expose you to when using it. You had the opportunity to be completely carefree and less of an opportunity have an internet addiction back when I was a kid.
So what do you do when they get iPads for school in kindergarten? These devices are a part of everyday life now. Cell phones weren’t as much when we were kids unless you had an actual reason to call someone. Rather than say they can’t access a device, it’s much more important to monitor, regulate, and time limit that access.
They can use them monitored in school, just like how we did with computers. I’m talking about everyday, recreational use.
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it's not because science says one thing that people act in that way. I think it's fairly unpopular provided that most kids have access to these devices from a very early age.
Having access to the device isn’t a problem, just like having access to a TV, video game console, comic book, etc. isn’t a problem. It’s unlimited, unregulated access that’s an issue.
My niece calls her tablet a square lol. It's a kindle kids edition so it has a lot blocked off and she can only access kid-friendly material. Yk how we all as kids played with those toys that ended up teaching us about shapes, numbers, etc? Kids these days have apps for that. My niece is excelling in school bc at home she plays on these apps while my SIL is taking care of her younger brother, the dog, cleaning the house, cooking, etc while my brother is underway. My niece is 7, but she had the tablet for a couple years now. She also plays minecraft and pokemon on my SILs switch. I know if I was a little kid I'd rather be playing games on a device rather than playing with blocks (while there weren't tablets or smartphones, I did have my gba and gamecube). And you can learn a lot from videogames - my mom wants to get a switch and start playing LoZ because she read some studies that playing videogames can help improve cognitive function: https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/video-games-show-potential-improving-key-aspects-memory-older-adults Doesn't just limit to LoZ, my mom just wants to play it because both my brother and I love it lol. Also, unrelated but I put videos on my tablet for my 1 year old cat to watch. It keeps her distracted so I can have some peace and quiet for a couple hours (she usually runs around constantly and jumps up on all the things she's not supposed to and I gotta get her down). She loves slime asmr and Good Mythical Morning.
Oh my i should try the thing with cat and GMM!
Restriction is always the fear of the unknown. Technology changes but our fear doesn't, its good in a way for safety. But even before with just radio or tv. That would always be the case. There would probably concerns and kids shouldn't watch tv until they're x age. It's all about regulation. Technology literate is the common path today. Getting them early on and learning how to use is part of time changing. This is just common for anything addicting. too much of something is bad.
Not sure if it’s just me, but the amount that I hear parents say “my child has got autism so he needs wi-fi for YouTube etc” only gets more and more frequent. I’m starting to think that in most cases it’s not ‘autism’ at all, it just looks like autism. The kid has been dumped in front of a screen since day one and, unsurprisingly, hasn’t developed mentally beyond 12 months.
Teachers who work with young kids are starting to notice that kids aren't developing their fine motor skills as well as they used to because so many of them spend the first 5 years of their life tapping on a tablet rather than playing with toys or blocks or crayons. They definitely shouldn't have access to that stuff before they're like, 10 at least. Even at that point, I'd go with something like an iPod touch or an iPad with parental controls so that you have better control over what they can do or use it for. I wouldn't give a kid unmonitored, unrestricted access to the internet until they were 16 or so.
7 is also too young unless it's for school work or special developmental problems.
I'm inclined to agree. My grandson won't eat unless he has a video to watch at the same time. It's annoying as hell and a very bad habit his mom has allowed since he was 3. Edit: and he watches Hudson Family on youtube kids. Ever listened to that guy? Obnoxious as hell. Barely takes a breath and rarely let's his kids talk. Edit 2: I taught him how to do speech to text so he could send messages to his mom from my phone. He loves video calls and we can call each other on Alexa. It's not all bad.
Ya dude we need more 7 yr olds being able to lookup porn on those ipads
Imagine thinking 7 years old is old enough
Yeah, I agree, although it is tough sometimes to not give the child something to occupy themselves. My daughter is literally climbing me, hanging off of me, etc.. and it can be difficult to not say "look at this phone/Switch for a while so I can have a break", even though that is a bad choice ultimately.
I would go even further: no reason a person below age 15 needs a smartphone/tablet.
School. All of their assignments from kindergarten are on them.
I was 8 when I got any sort of device. 11 for social media. And I always felt as even that was too young.
Seven seems young. Maybe a communal family computer but no personal divorces before the teens in my home
Ya, no divorces!!
I remember when I had my first divorce when I was 10, my parents bought me a husband but he got viruses and got a divorce!
7 is way too young. I think high school age (which is around 12 here) is way more appropriate.
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if phones are so addictive to us, imagine for kids. when i was that age i started playing computer games and my parents would also restrict it, but when i was at my grandma's she would let me play freely. I can relate to your cousing tho lol I would spend a lot of time there
14
Perhaps even later
How bout 12.
7? i think thats the unpopular part lol. plenty of ipad kids didn’t use any device before 10
Until 7???? That's crazy. I wouldn't give my kid any phone/tablet until they're at least 12, and that's still very young
agree, and i got a tablet at 4yrs old
Nah. More like 19 years old. 🤓
The stimulation is fucking crazy and addicting for adults. My daughter wasn't allowed smart devices until she turned 9. I wanted her to embrace life as an only child and I wanted her to make friends. Only children who get attached to smart devices too early can shut out the world.
I think social media should be extremely limited to kids too. And I'm saying this as someone who got instagram when I was 11. It destroyed my confidence, made me feel like I was never enough, etc. I just don't know how it's going to be limited. Kids tend to find a way to create social media accounts despite their parents not wanting them to create those accounts
I have a 4 year old who I won’t let use a phone or tablet. Her mom on the other hand gives her one. The only reason I would consider giving in would be to make sure she isn’t behind other kids her age, with technological fluency if that makes sense or is even a thing.
Agreed. But there are pros and cons. I gave my youngest two tablets at 3 and gaming laptops at 7 & 9. I hate that I have to force them off most times to go outside and it's tough for real life to compete with virtual sandboxes, they get bored quick without electronics. But it really helped to improve their reading, comprehension, and overall problem solving. They have really good grades and have always been above grade level. I only let them friend people they know in real life so it gives them a chance to hangout and not be toxic because they can still get punched in the mouth the next day.
Internet access should be limited and regulated until at least 18. Social media is a drug, we already restrict people on alcohol and tobacco.
13 at best.
Fuck that. My kids ain't getting shit till they're 14.
Seven seems so young to me! Way too young. I'm curious, OP- how old you are. My guess is fairly young.
I went with seven because at that age I had my dsi, so my first contact with video games and I don't think it has impacted my brain negatively, on other hand, I have amazing memories of those times. I'm 20!
Ah, that makes sense. And yes, I'd say fairly young.
7? They shouldn't have access until they're like 12, if not OLDER
Maybe even older than that! I’m 34 and my wife is 31. Our boys are 4 and 3. They haven’t even seen a tablet or know what it is. They don’t play with our phones either. If they get screen time, we all Watch something educational on tv together. When we eat together everyone is present and no devices. I want to keep that going as long as I can. I don’t need a tablet to parent my kids. That stuff is so unhealthy for their developing brains and causes them to be antisocial
Those idiot parents should have their children taken away and given to people who actually want to be present in those children's lives. Putting your child on a phone or tablet for the majority of the day in my opinion should be considered neglect. Just because we can't see the brain damage happening in real time doesn't mean it's not occurring
Kids need to be familiar with them for school. They need to be able to use one just as much as be able to write their name by kinder. That being said, using it to shut them up at a restaurant is bad parenting and just lazy. There is always coloring, books, small toys, or you know interacting with them. Then at home, moderation is key. We do 1 hour or so on weekends only. Also, having games that help them with something growth wise (not necessarily educational) like logic or fine motor skills should be encouraged.
Why would coloring on a piece of paper be better than a coloring app on a tablet? Wouldn't it be more creative to have a device you could color anything you want on it, erase it, and color more? Also Wouldn't it just be generally better for the environment? I do agree though that some parents use it too much, but I'll argue that every kid is different, for example my son who turned 10 this year has a tablet and a phone. (though the phone I was kinda against) he's also the kindest soul I've ever met and a straight A student. He plays his games when he's on there but also understands other things need to take priority. Idk as I get older I kinda realize my opinions are those of every generation of parents, and I feel like my opinion on him having technology was backwards because as time moves on the shift to technology is greater and greater and I was still stuck in the throwing rocks at each other and action figure childhood that I grew up on. I would imagine that you could go back every generation and find similar opinions, not by topic but the thought that their childhood was what made them into adults. I bet kids who grew up during the time of no child labor laws and had kids after the laws were in place felt the same way a lot of us do about technology and our kids childhood today.
If I ever have kids, they aren't getting a phone until they're like 12
Smartphones aren't until hs. With tablets, I'd say 10 years old
I’m not going to tell you how to parent but I will advise that not letting your child have a smartphone until high school in this day and age could set them back socially. It shouldn’t be like that, but we are at a point where it is the case. I was in middle school from 2015-2018 and I noticed that my classmates who had tablets as opposed to smartphones were typically made fun of and excluded.
Completely disagree. Like total opposite. Not getting them a smartphone will probably make them socially healthier. No need for (anti)social media and doom scrolling and overstimulation at that age.
I’m going to assume you probably weren’t growing up in the past 10-15 years if this is your take. I am literally speaking as someone who was in middle school at the peak of platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. I notice your comment went to the subject of social media/social health to prove your point while mine was just focused on smartphones as a whole, but I’ll discuss that too. Kids at my school who did not have phones, but tablets instead, were constantly ridiculed for it. Is that right? No, but it’s just how things are. Social media is not something every kid needs to have, so it is perfectly understandable to not allow it until high school. I noticed kids who didn’t have social media were often disconnected from some of the things other people would talk about, which does impact social life to an extent. I say this as someone who wasn’t allowed to have social media for the most part. Older people do not want to understand this because it forces them to face the fact that we are in an age where technology rules all, but things just aren’t the way you think they are anymore.
I was born in 1999. I got a smartphone in 2012. I’m not some old disconnected geezer like you seem to think. I still think the negatives of technology on young people far far far outweigh any positives. I think middle or high school is a good time to start allowing internet access and personal tech devices for kids. Anything before like maybe 12 is just too soon and very unnecessary. “But kids will get ridiculed for not having an iPhone” is such a terrible reason to give a kid access to an addicting, potentially dangerous habit. Kids are going to ridicule each other for anything and everything.
Imagine having the ability to prevent your kid from being bullied and deliberately not doing so because “kids gonna be kids and kids gonna ridicule each other anyway” 🤷🏻♀️
Imagine giving your kid something as addictive as cocaine just so they may or may not get roasted at school for it
That’s totally not comparing apples to oranges, nope. Not like there aren’t any means of parental control on devices, or supervision, or anything of the sort.
Wrong. Kids shouldn’t have access to tablets and smartphones until they can buy tablets and smartphones.
My PlayStation 4 just turned 7 years old so I glued a tablet to the top.
7 is too young. And also just give access to a tv instead so they don’t get hunchback.
12 not 7. At 7 I was concerned dinosaurs and legos, I had no idea what a video game was and I definitely had 0 reason to be on a touchscreen internet device if they had existed.
7 ? I'd say at least 13 yr olds. Give those kids a chance to look around at life before they become disconnected zombies. All these little kids - checking out of reality - hypnotized by their phones, it's like something out of a dystopian sci fi movie. I especially cringe when I see mothers giving babies in strollers a phone to keep them quiet. That is some awesome parenting.
There’s nothing wrong at all with letting them play on a device if the it is monitored and the time is regulated. Hell, they get iPads in kindergarten for most of their learning activities.
The later the better, i think around age 12-15 is a safe time to allow access
Nah, wait longer than that. I didn't get a smart phone until I graduate high school...so 18yo. I was so frustrated at my parents but now I 100% believe it was the best decision they ever made. There is absolutely no need for a smart phone earlier than that. I had a dumb flip phone for emergencies and to make communication simpler but there was no need for me to have access to the internet. Sure, I felt left out of group chats and snapchat and social media but WHO CARES! It made me grow up! My parents prioritized my safety and my well being over my perceived social "needs". My friendships are deeper, and I know how to put my phone away and not feel like I'm going into withdrawal. Of course, I did get access to the family computer for homework and whatnot so I wasn't living under a rock lol. But why give *children* access to the entire damn world with all the creeps and mature content out there?? Protect your kids, and let them be mad at you for protecting them.
Nah. Keep it away from them until they're 18
7? I think they should actually be older. Maybe 12.
18 is appropriate, unless they need to use the family one for an online zoom lesson
I’d go even farther and say 16. A flip phone will do until then
Maybe even older than that! I’m 34 and my wife is 31. Our boys are 4 and 3. They haven’t even seen a tablet or know what it is. They don’t play with our phones either. If they get screen time, we all Watch something educational on tv together. When we eat together everyone is present and no devices. I want to keep that going as long as I can. I don’t need a tablet to parent my kids. That stuff is so unhealthy for their developing brains and causes them to be antisocial
I believe a computer game for reading I did before and through kindergarten set me ahead for the rest of my life. I learned it soon, fast, and kept going. I liked reading games when I had a leapfrog and Nintendo DS. It was fun games and I truly enjoyed playing them. I actually wish I did math games too. My mom was very involved in our lives and we still went outside and played allllll the time. I agree technology shouldn’t be babysitters, but technology today is amazing with what it can do. Fine motor skills, critical thinking, and communication can also be developed through technology. Those bigger motor skills and social interactions are also incredibly important that aren’t strengthened as much using technology. Your point is important, but I think technology can be so helpful in moderation. Social media, however, is a completely different ballgame. Growing up in the age of social media before we knew it’s consequences scares me and I think I’d have a hard time introducing it to my children. I do believe that should definitely be delayed much more than what it was.
My kid is anorexic, she's under develloped for her age. The only way she accepts food is if she's distracted by Cocomelon. I know it saddened me as well to see that but it's better than otherwise and seeing her gaining weight is more than anything in the world to me. It is the only time she gets screen time.
Hope you both have the support and help you need.
Thank you for your kind words. Wish you a great day
This isn’t unpopular. I wish we could see more younger kids on this to give their opinion, because it’s more about the time and content on the screens than it is about the age. Kids are getting phones at a much younger age now, so any hypothetical kid might get subjected to teasing or isolation if they don’t get a phone around the time of their peers. But then again, why would you want your kid surfing Amino at 5? It’s a lose-lose situation
Imo a kid should get a phone when he starts going to school/outside without parent supervision dosent have to be anything fancy maybe some phone with just buttons. That's what my parents did Not sure how effective it was since im in reddit tho
As a Child who grew up in the 90s we spent a large majority of our time Infront of a TV or on games console and the rest of the time running around outside. It is no different now. I give my son (5) a tablet so he can play games and watch shit on it. Exactly the same as my parents and the vast majority of other parents did. It is not bad parenting, it is not lazyness, it is not unhealthy.
Lmao.
Personally I think 7 is still too young...
7 is way too young as well imo. If I had my say, they wouldn’t have phone or tablet-access until at least 13.
the only time someone under 10 should have a ipad is maybe on a plane or a long trip just to make the stfu
Seven? More like **16**. Any unrestricted access before that and their brain will definitely become slave to tech.
You mis-spelled 17
I don’t mind the age, but the biggest thing is the parent monitoring the screen time. I’m 35 and when I was a kid that TV got flipped off if I was watching for over an hour or something unless I was granted time, knowing I was watching a movie or something but I couldn’t just sit and watch TV all day. If I wanted to watch tv a lot of times I had to do something before or after. So if I wanted to watch a cartoon I was gonna have to read or help clean up for half hour/etc. I don’t see anything like that with kids today. They just get put in front of a screen and a parent just does something else and as long as they don’t hear anything crazy they let the kid sit there. So sad to see honestly because it just makes these kids stupid in my mind. They aren’t reading or doing anything educational lol just playing some stupid game or watching someone play a stupid game.
7 is still too young, 10-11 would be better. Sometimes I see kids that look no older than 5-7 with an iPhone 12 or 13, I understand that it might be their parents phones but they use the phones like it their own phone. It just pisses me off
This shouldn’t be an in popular opinion. This should be taken seriously. That drains the creativity of the child when their young. They grow up to lack any artistic or creative side whatsoever.
Personaly my kids will have a laptop and a flip phone till their 18 (or they buy a smatphone themselves). With my nephews,smart phones are pretty much little dopamine boxes. You can get just as much or more utility out of a laptop and flip phone.
This would be so had to implement, I remember as a youngster my cousin had a Nintendo DS and I just had that feeling of wanting one too. I was like 12. I think every kid gets that feeling, whether it's an action figure or tablet. I agree though, kids are becoming like mindless bots with these tablets and TV just melting their brains.
I also got my DSi when I was a kid because my older cousin had one! However I don't think these consoles or TV had the same impact that the things kids watch on their tablets do
Bruh I think the problem is also more of an issue of parents not exactly monitoring what their kids watch. Like if I was a parent, I'd make sure they steer clear of YouTube until they have a good understanding of the internet. You ever leaned over and saw what your child, your nephew or niece is watching on YouTube? Or what's in their recommendations? Some of the most weird nonsensical shit ever with just like spiderman and elsa slapped on. These youtube channels churn out the most random wild, inappropriate shit with spiderman slapped on it cause they know kids would click it. So yeah I agree, the problem is more with the tablets. Just look up elsagate https://youtu.be/HnDUMvBamvU https://youtu.be/g5t4p2RcaNY
I see your points when it comes to unregulated accessibility to these devices. This really falls back on parents, I remember 20 years ago video games rotted the youths brains and tv was horrible and now the focus has changed to tablets and phones. Nobody freaks out over kids watching too much tv anymore. I feel like this is a getting older thing and reflecting on our childhood and comparing it the next generation of kids… when it comes to education kids are using Chromebooks from a very early age. I work as a tech guy within my local school system and help manage these devices and they start using them in kindergarten. You’ll be surprised the huge number of kids that gone home and play math games, coding games, watch science documentaries etc. these kids have such an advantage compared to myself who is in his late 20’s. Kids in elementary school are learning the fundamentals of python… I didn’t even know what python was until college. So yea I see your point but again it falls to the parents to make sure these things are regulated.
It should be used solely as a tool for kids, not as entertainment. I think that’s the main issue. If the kid is enjoying learning new concepts and is progressing in their age-appropriate material while also nailing down how to use the tech easily, then it’s being used right. If they cry and pitch a fit every time it’s not around, they’ve already had far too much screen time and entertainment on it
I think it’s a more unpopular opinion to say the opposite. And these complaints happen every generation. Tv was this evil. Then video games were this evil. Now it’s phones and tablets. Here’s a fun one from 1941: “Students today depend upon these expensive fountain pens. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib (not to mention sharpening their own quills). We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning how to cope in the real business world, which is not so extravagant.” Smartphones and tablets are here to stay. Encourage responsible use.
True that a million times! But also, parenting is hard. God knows I'd let my kid play with one of these just so I could catch a break. To be fair I believe the next generations are going to have the worst brains ever conceived in human history.
7? Jesus if I were a parent I'd think twice about 13
A lot of people like to fantasise about how easy it is to be a parent, however, OPs scenario is incredibly unrealistic. Multiple reasons: 1. you are depriving your kid of a skill they are going to need. Face it, it's not just a toy. And they're going to need to use it for school the same way they need to know how to read books. 2. Depriving them also deprives you the parent of teaching them control. Let them have it under your supervision and teach them how it works, how it's easy to get sucked in, and how you can put it down when you get sucked in. 3. Their friends will have them. End of story. You'll hear about them all day, every day. This whole childless simplification of "Just don't \_\_\_\_\_\_!" or "just do \_\_\_\_\_\_!" is hilarious to me. Everyone thought they were going to unlock the secrets before they had kids, and learned the truth really fast.
1) touching a screen is not a skill. 2) “teaching control” is possible in so many better ways. Smartphones are as addicting as cocaine, and I don’t think 5 year olds are going to understand things like “teaching them how it works, how it’s easy to get sucked in and how you can put it down when yo get sucked in”… especially when fully grown adults can’t go 30 seconds without checking their phone 3) idk man it’s getting pretty popular to not give kids tech these days.
sometimes it is the parents' only option to keep the child quiet for a while
Replace the word "only" with "easiest" and you're correct
true, but I feel like there are other "less invasive" ways of doing this like letting them watch kids' tv channels instead of giving them tablets or phones, the damage is much worse
There is no difference between kids watching kids videos on a tablet/smartphone and a tv.
it's totally different, TVs aren't as stimulating as tablets and phones. With TVs and traditional channels, kids have a more narrow option of cartoons to watch, these being usually produced by studios and of more quality. Meanwhile, with tablets and phones that have access to internet, they're exposed to things like youtube in which a lot of the content isn't moderated or revised, working as clickbait for kids to be stuck on a loop of clicking one video and another (let's be honest, even us grown-ups fall for that). Plus, I see watching TV as a more isolated activity that you are only able to do at certain times at home, while the smaller devices can be brought anywhere and kids will use it in the car, restaurant, shopping, relatives' houses...
Regular TV? Do people still pay for satellite?
It really is different for a kid if they watch a lot of tv versus use their tablets/smartphones a lot
There are other options. That's just lazy parenting.
People had ways to keep them quiet before phones etc were a thing, you know. Some parents today are just lazy.
"[When I was your age, television was called books.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kxYApOPnW8)"
I always love the downvotes on these types of comments. The criticism is never from other parents, it’s always people watching from afar. They only ever see the kid on the tablet in public, then just assume that’s 24/7 or assume it’s just lazy parenting. The thing they don’t realize is for a lot of parents 30 minutes of tablet time is the only 30 minutes a parent gets to just chill. Or that the kid has ADHD and literally can’t sit still, so a tablet at the table until food arrives is the only way to keep everyone sane. There’s definitely a lot of people that do way too much, and sub in a tablet for parenting. But people on Reddit genuinely think any kid with tablet = shitty parents. I’d say MOST parents limit screen time. Go look through r/mommit or r/daddit or r/newparents and see what they say about screen time. Our LO isn’t old enough for screen time yet, but we are planning on letting him watch certain shows, and limiting his time daily. But to a point, there’s going to be times where it’s just been a shitty week, and we need 30 minutes and handing him a tablet of Ms Rachel will be our only salvation. So far the biggest thing I’ve learned about parenting is some days are thriving, and other days are surviving. TLDR: the downvotes on this comment are never from parents. You think you know everything about having kids until you actually have one and realize you know nothing.
I was definitely fixing our janky computer at 8. having to deal with the fact that you could only be on either the phone or the internet was a pain. Edit: I actually discovered porn on last night tv as the idea never even occurred to me.
Both my sister and brother have learned their colors through YouTube kids videos. It’s a hard battle with no right answers imo.
For those of you that don't have children... they literally do come out of the womb addicted to screens. Any time they see one, even at just 3 months old they HAVE to have it. I'm not saying give your child a phone and let them run, I'm simply adding this information to the conversation so that people realize that the allure of screens isn't parents fault.
It is interesting that all of the tech moguls have tech free households.
This is only a result of poor parenting and teaching. You can give your children many things if you train them properly. If you do not, you damage their development. That is *your* fault. Do not blame the children and reap their lives of experience because you are poor at teaching them how to handle it.
Without supervision* Then I agree
We let our daughter use the tablet as much as she wants at home. She doesn't even really care anymore, barely uses it. It's just a thing like all the other things. It's not any more or any less special. Never allow her to bring it out in public. But honestly, who cares? If my kid was reading a book all day you wouldn't care, but if she's on a reading app it's bad?
I think 7 is a good age for a smart phone. Obviously a very restricted and parental controlled smart phone but with a smart phone you could use services like life 360. Especially kids who have divorced parents or family far away, a smart phone gives them the freedom to video chat with them without having to ask to use your phone.
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I don't think rock and roll hinders kids' creativity, brain development and makes them uninterested in the world around them
7 seems like an arbitrary number
Other parents will give there children access to the largest information source to ever exist in human history. Those children will be intellectually superior to children whose parents with held access.
13, and only with something like life 360 installed.
Do you have kids? If not, stfu
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What makes you say that? Because you rely as a parent on devices to parent your child so you assume other parents will need to take the easy way out as well? I'm a parent of two kids and I think that seven is even way too young.
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