I got my kids iPhone 14's at the same time, one was 6 and the other 8. This was about 4 years ago. Put parental controls on both. Has been great being able to see them on findfriends and coordinate school things like pickup/drop off etc. Doesn't seem to be that uncommon among their age group now. Though some parents seem shocked we started them so young.

Kids shouldn't have smart phones. Let them be kids. Most adults shouldn't have smart phones. Melts your brain, gives you dopamine issues.

Posted from my smart phone

My 17 yo barely uses his smartphone. If we're out and he wants to tell a friend something, he'll text. He occasionally checks Discord on it. That's it. He doesn't have any social media accounts, and I've never seen him place a call.

He'd much rather be at his desk with his PC and two displays, have his headphones on, and be using his high-end microphone to game online with his friends.

6 and 8... geez.. you are perpetuating this awful trend. Mine are 9 and 11.. I told them when they start driving, they'll get a phone. I would say I don't see as many kids in their school have phones as I would otherwise suspect. I hope parents in my community are having common sense and not just doing what their kids say 'all the kids' are doing.

ZERO reason for a elementary school aged kid to get a smart phone. Last year we got ours watches that can call and text whatever numbers we program in them, but otherwise, that's about all they do, and it's a struggle to get them to wear them daily honestly. They started wanting to walk home this year, and so we told them, no watch, no walk home, so now they do wear them when they want to walk home which is usually fridays.

And I got Benny a phone in 6th grade once he started going to school in the spring (pandemic). He walked home, and I wanted him to be able to call/text me if he needed to.

It's getting harder to wait until they're older. We got the "phone watch" for our daughter who is now in 6th grade, but it's still pretty inadequate due to lack of Groupwise and other group messaging apps that are increasingly becoming needed if not required for school and after school activities and things.
We'll probably have to get her her first smart phone within the year.

As soon as they are old enough to put Mountain Dew in their bottle they can handle a Cell phone

My 6th grade son got a Gabb phone this year. We're not getting him a smart phone until high school. Phone addiction is a real thing and the biggest issue for kids today.

about 6, 7

Discord is a social media app

My kid is 12 and doesn't habe one. I tell her that the moment she gets one her childhood ends.

Don't know anyone who has 6 and 8 year olds with a smart phone. Of the groups we are around, family, friends, youth sports, I'd guess that 13 to 16 is when most get phones.

Bruce Almighty said:

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My 6th grade son got a Gabb phone this year. We're not getting him a smart phone until high school. Phone addiction is a real thing and the biggest issue for kids today.

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Same. My daughter got her first gabb phone this year because she is at a different campus and we needed to coordinate schedules, etc. My son is a freshman in hs and we got him an iPhone 16 this year. His first phone. He is on it all the time. I am surprised how addicted to it he is when he is allowed to be on it, but we have had no problems so far. We held off as long as we could, but with 3 kids at 3 different schools we needed a way to communicate. It was essential a couple of weeks ago when my battery on my truck died and I was supposed to pick up my daughter and son.

My kid is 3 and I got her an iPhone because I got tired of her always wanting to take mine to watch YouTube.

62strat said:

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6 and 8... geez.. you are perpetuating this awful trend. Mine are 9 and 11.. I told them when they start driving, they'll get a phone. I would say I don't see as many kids in their school have phones as I would otherwise suspect. I hope parents in my community are having common sense and not just doing what their kids say 'all the kids' are doing.

ZERO reason for a elementary school aged kid to get a smart phone. Last year we got ours watches that can call and text whatever numbers we program in them, but otherwise, that's about all they do, and it's a struggle to get them to wear them daily honestly. They started wanting to walk home this year, and so we told them, no watch, no walk home, so now they do wear them when they want to walk home which is usually fridays.

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you fell for a RATO troll. Not sure which poster is worse.

If you're my dumbass ex wife they get them at 10 year olds and told nothing except "be careful, these were expensive."

Don't let your kids grow up with a porn addiction. They dont need a phone. They dont need a personal computer. They're kids.

Middle school/when it starts becoming a social issue.

Keep them off social media.

My son is 10 (5th grader). Will probably get a kid friendly phone next year, as he is starting to get involved in after school activities and we live 20 miles from school. If he wasnt involved in activities, it would probably be 15 or 16.

one safe place said:

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Don't know anyone who has 6 and 8 year olds with a smart phone. Of the groups we are around, family, friends, youth sports, I'd guess that 13 to 16 is when most get phones.

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You would be surprised. When my oldest was in Kinder, several kids in his class had smart phones. But I mostly blame that on absent parents and Obama phones. (We were zoned to a not great area)

I have found most parents get their VERY young kids phones so they can "brag" Braxxton had to have a phone so they bought him one

My soon to be 11 yr old has an Apple Watch with cellular service. During the school day it's in school mode and I can monitor if he unlocks it.

We mostly use it so that he can play around the neighborhood and we can know where he is. He can call or text to be able to check in if needed.

Until I'm not in charge of getting him from point A to point B, there is no reason for him to have a phone.

I had a simple rule about cell phones for my kids: NO cell phones until high school. Once they entered high school, I got them a cell phone, with parental controls, including being able to track their where abouts.

In my opinion, elementary and even middle school are just too young for kids to have cell phones.

histag10 said:

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one safe place said:

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Don't know anyone who has 6 and 8 year olds with a smart phone. Of the groups we are around, family, friends, youth sports, I'd guess that 13 to 16 is when most get phones.

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You would be surprised. When my oldest was in Kinder, several kids in his class had smart phones. But I mostly blame that on absent parents and Obama phones. (We were zoned to a not great area)

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Oh, I do not doubt there are some pretty young kids that have smart phones, just not any in our groups that we associate with. I have heard more than a few younger kids say that they wanted a smart phone for their birthday or Christmas but the wish got shut down by a parent.

I got my 10 year old son an Amigo watch from AT&T so he can walk to his friends and if I need to run to HEB for 30-45 mins, he can watch his sister. Yes, I realize that as a child that grew up in the 80's and 90's, a smart watch isn't necessarily required for these activities -- your parent would simply drive you with them to the grocery store and then let you sit in the hot car for some unknown amount of time while you and your sibling made bets on how long it was going to take based on the clock that was only being powered by the vehicle's accessory mode because that's the only way AC would be on.

Has all the functionality of a phone without the dopamine-hit apps.

Will see how long I can ride this, but I dont think he will get an actual smart-phone until high school.

6-8 though? No way in hell.

The best thing bout getting your kids a phone is the threat of taking it away when they want to act up or not listen.

Both of mine got cell phones at 13 … when they started playing out-of-town sports and had long bus rides to and from games. Aside from an occasional hiccup with my son accessing the typical sites as a young man matures, they had no issues with phones. Phones and laptops came downstairs at 10:00 p.m. and couldn't be used until the next morning. Violations resulted in loss of the item for 24 hours. They were good kids (with an adequate amount of supervision) who turned into great adults.

This. I might have their phones more than they do, and I have generally well behaved kids.

Room isn't clean? Homework isn't done and you're on YouTube? C on a test? Talking back? Left the kitchen a mess? Being a teenage ****head?

The phone is mine for a day.

one safe place said:

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histag10 said:

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one safe place said:

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Don't know anyone who has 6 and 8 year olds with a smart phone. Of the groups we are around, family, friends, youth sports, I'd guess that 13 to 16 is when most get phones.

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You would be surprised. When my oldest was in Kinder, several kids in his class had smart phones. But I mostly blame that on absent parents and Obama phones. (We were zoned to a not great area)

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Oh, I do not doubt there are some pretty young kids that have smart phones, just not any in our groups that we associate with. I have heard more than a few younger kids say that they wanted a smart phone for their birthday or Christmas but the wish got shut down by a parent.

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Yeah. I get that. I dont think any of the people we hang out with have young kids with phones. The youngest I know is 10 or 11. And our son will probably get one at 11/12 due to extracurricular activities

AggieT said:

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This. I might have their phones more than they do, and I have generally well behaved kids.

Room isn't clean? Homework isn't done and you're on YouTube? C on a test? Talking back? Left the kitchen a mess? Being a teenage ****head?

The phone is mine for a day.

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I can echo this. They are extremely effective for discipline. With Screen Time I can even disable it, certain apps, etc remotely and instantly.

When they start working.

AggieT said:

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This. I might have their phones more than they do, and I have generally well behaved kids.

Room isn't clean? Homework isn't done and you're on YouTube? C on a test? Talking back? Left the kitchen a mess? Being a teenage ****head?

The phone is mine for a day.

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I heard Will Ferrell on a podcast a few years back, might have been "Smartless", where he had worked out a whole routine to not just take the phone from his son, but appear to throw it out the window of the car while driving to really freak him out. He had gone up and down his street and found this big spot of bushes as the landing zone, but played the whole thing like he was spontaneously just throwing the phone out the window. Was really funny.

Aren't there flip phones and basic call/text only phones still available on the market?

I've considered getting one myself and "going backward" but why not just get that for a kid if the real purpose is to simply communicate with them for after school activities?

Sent from my iPhone, please excuse any typographical errors.

As a teacher, I looooooove hearing "Miss, my phone got taken away because I'm failing your class!" From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.

I don't use chromebooks a whole lot but a couple weeks ago they had a digital assignment. I watch their screens on GoGuardian like a responsible teacher, and watched a junior in high school google "what are the three phases of matter." Keep your kids off their phones in school, folks!

Ragoo said:

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When they start working.

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Agreed.

Remember the good old days when they had to play a commercial late at night asking parents if they know where their kids are? Those were simpler and better times.