Poll: At what age do you think children should have access to their own personal phone?
De persoon die dit onderwerp heeft geplaatst: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
MEDEWERKER SITE
Dec 13

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "At what age do you think children should have access to their own personal phone?".

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Ekaterina Chashnikova
Ekaterina Chashnikova  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:59
Lid 2011
Engels naar Russisch
+ ...
Are we being realistic? Dec 13

The leading "14–16 years old" is a great option, but how realistic is it? Many kids start using phones much earlier to communicate with their parents when they are at school or other classes and when their parents are not at home.

Let's not forget that a phone can have many functions these days. I believe the question should have been phrased like "At what age do you think children should have access to their own personal phone for entertainment?"


Ines Radionovas-Lagoutte, PhD
Carmen Valentin-Rodriguez
Yaotl Altan
Jorge Payan
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:59
Lid 2007
Engels naar Portugees
+ ...
N/A Dec 13

Children, like adults, are all different. So, it depends on the child in question and on the kind of personal phone…

Carmen Valentin-Rodriguez
Ekaterina Chashnikova
Philip Lees
Maria Laura Curzi
 
Johan Beyens
Johan Beyens
België
Local time: 07:59
Lid Oct 2024
Engels naar Nederlands
+ ...
Had no choice Dec 13

My son got his phone when he was 12. We had no choice, he needed it for using school apps.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Ekaterina Chashnikova
Maria Laura Curzi
 
Liena Vijupe
Liena Vijupe  Identity Verified
Letland
Local time: 08:59
Lid 2014
Frans naar Lets
+ ...
Other Dec 13

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

Children, like adults, are all different. So, it depends on the child in question and on the kind of personal phone…


I agree, but society plays a huge role too. A child can be absolutely fine without a phone and feel no need for it, but if everybody else in the class or age group has one it will certainly cause at least some frustration.
I am glad to be part of the generation for which this was no issue and the question would have been absurd or entirely hypothetical.


Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Laureana Pavon
Philip Lees
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:59
Lid 2007
Engels naar Portugees
+ ...
@Liena Dec 13

Liena Vijupe wrote:

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

Children, like adults, are all different. So, it depends on the child in question and on the kind of personal phone…


I agree, but society plays a huge role too. A child can be absolutely fine without a phone and feel no need for it, but if everybody else in the class or age group has one it will certainly cause at least some frustration.
I am glad to be part of the generation for which this was no issue and the question would have been absurd or entirely hypothetical.


Isn’t this also a good opportunity to learn how to deal with peer pressure?


 
Liena Vijupe
Liena Vijupe  Identity Verified
Letland
Local time: 08:59
Lid 2014
Frans naar Lets
+ ...
peer pressure Dec 13

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

Isn’t this also a good opportunity to learn how to deal with peer pressure?


I don't know, I think there is an abundance of such opportunities already and they don't stop at any age... My point was more about how society affects our choices, in a similar way as we all are being pressured to "embrace" AI now despite most of us doing perfectly fine without it.


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Denis Fesik
Denis Fesik
Local time: 09:59
Engels naar Russisch
+ ...
I read a piece of news Dec 13

It was about a kid asking an AI bot what to do about the screen time limit set by their parents. The bot's advice was to kill the parents. It knew some stats about children killing their parents and justified such acts by how much those children were mistreated (by screen time limits, homework drudgery, household chores, you name it). Maybe it was a fake, after all. My two niblings (both under 10) have been using their personal smartphones on a limited screen time budget for quite a while. I've ... See more
It was about a kid asking an AI bot what to do about the screen time limit set by their parents. The bot's advice was to kill the parents. It knew some stats about children killing their parents and justified such acts by how much those children were mistreated (by screen time limits, homework drudgery, household chores, you name it). Maybe it was a fake, after all. My two niblings (both under 10) have been using their personal smartphones on a limited screen time budget for quite a while. I've never seen them throw tantrums for more time at the end of the dayCollapse


 
Andrea Quintana
Andrea Quintana  Identity Verified
Argentinië
Local time: 03:59
Lid 2006
Engels naar Spaans
+ ...
When they start to travel o n their own Dec 13

We gave our children mobile phones when they started secondary school, as they started to travel to and from school on their own and we wanted to keep in touch for security reasons. They're young adults now and everything turned out well. I think the key is to keep them informed of any dangers, be always open to communication with them, and keep an eye to avoid any type of addiction, including online ones.

[Edited at 2024-1
... See more
We gave our children mobile phones when they started secondary school, as they started to travel to and from school on their own and we wanted to keep in touch for security reasons. They're young adults now and everything turned out well. I think the key is to keep them informed of any dangers, be always open to communication with them, and keep an eye to avoid any type of addiction, including online ones.

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:05 GMT]
Collapse


Maria Laura Curzi
 
Gjorgji Apostolovski
Gjorgji Apostolovski  Identity Verified
Macedonië (VJRM)
Local time: 07:59
Engels naar Macedonisch
+ ...
at what age do you had your own phone? Dec 13

I had mine on 14, but back than there weren't smartphones, no camera, no color screen. Today you can't track what your own kids are doing on their phones, or more importantly on other kid's phones gathered. There were plenty incidents these days in my country, where the kids saw some video on TikTok... See more
I had mine on 14, but back than there weren't smartphones, no camera, no color screen. Today you can't track what your own kids are doing on their phones, or more importantly on other kid's phones gathered. There were plenty incidents these days in my country, where the kids saw some video on TikTok and they did what they saw.
https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-students-superman-challenge-injuries-ban-d3bdf11d57e1cb651df96a174da2ff59

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:24 GMT]

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:35 GMT]
Collapse


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Nederland
Local time: 07:59
Lid 2006
Engels naar Afrikaans
+ ...
15 Dec 13

My kids got their smartphones when they were about 15 years old. We got my daughter a smartphone specifically so that she could hunt Pokemons in the neighbourhood -- she was a couch potato and we wanted to get her moving.

But you can't really compare right now with 10 years ago, because internet was more expensive in those days and it was slower as well, so the type of stuff that you did on the phone was also different from today.

I'm particularly concerned with the
... See more
My kids got their smartphones when they were about 15 years old. We got my daughter a smartphone specifically so that she could hunt Pokemons in the neighbourhood -- she was a couch potato and we wanted to get her moving.

But you can't really compare right now with 10 years ago, because internet was more expensive in those days and it was slower as well, so the type of stuff that you did on the phone was also different from today.

I'm particularly concerned with the fact that e.g. TikTok is no longer just fun or educational entertainment but a news service that shows kids a narrative that their parents may be completely unaware of.
Collapse


 
Maria Laura Curzi
Maria Laura Curzi
Argentinië
Local time: 03:59
Engels naar Spaans
+ ...
Parental control Dec 14

Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

I had mine on 14, but back than there weren't smartphones, no camera, no color screen. Today you can't track what your own kids are doing on their phones, or more importantly on other kid's phones gathered. There were plenty incidents these days in my country, where the kids saw some video on TikTok and they did what they saw.
https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-students-superman-challenge-injuries-ban-d3bdf11d57e1cb651df96a174da2ff59

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:24 GMT]

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:35 GMT]


There are several parental control apps to track what kinds do with the phone. These parental control apps can limit internet access or block some websites/apps such as TikTok or Google Play, so kids can't download anything without parents permission.


Gjorgji Apostolovski
Ekaterina Chashnikova
 
Gjorgji Apostolovski
Gjorgji Apostolovski  Identity Verified
Macedonië (VJRM)
Local time: 07:59
Engels naar Macedonisch
+ ...
You cannot control the teenagers Dec 14

Maria Laura Curzi wrote:

Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

I had mine on 14, but back than there weren't smartphones, no camera, no color screen. Today you can't track what your own kids are doing on their phones, or more importantly on other kid's phones gathered. There were plenty incidents these days in my country, where the kids saw some video on TikTok and they did what they saw.
https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-students-superman-challenge-injuries-ban-d3bdf11d57e1cb651df96a174da2ff59

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:24 GMT]

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:35 GMT]


There are several parental control apps to track what kinds do with the phone. These parental control apps can limit internet access or block some websites/apps such as TikTok or Google Play, so kids can't download anything without parents permission.



These days you can find tutorials on internet about everything, so getting passed through parental control is not that hard. You simply cannot control the teenagers.


Maria Laura Curzi
 
Maria Laura Curzi
Maria Laura Curzi
Argentinië
Local time: 03:59
Engels naar Spaans
+ ...
Indeed! I agree. Dec 15

Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

Maria Laura Curzi wrote:

Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

I had mine on 14, but back than there weren't smartphones, no camera, no color screen. Today you can't track what your own kids are doing on their phones, or more importantly on other kid's phones gathered. There were plenty incidents these days in my country, where the kids saw some video on TikTok and they did what they saw.
https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-students-superman-challenge-injuries-ban-d3bdf11d57e1cb651df96a174da2ff59

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:24 GMT]

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:35 GMT]


There are several parental control apps to track what kinds do with the phone. These parental control apps can limit internet access or block some websites/apps such as TikTok or Google Play, so kids can't download anything without parents permission.



These days you can find tutorials on internet about everything, so getting passed through parental control is not that hard. You simply cannot control the teenagers.


Yes, you're indeed right; teenagers are very difficult to control. I guess that's why it's important to have good communication with them.
In my country, the current problem in relationship phone teenagers is illegal gambling. There's an advertising campaign on television to make them aware of the risks.


 
Gjorgji Apostolovski
Gjorgji Apostolovski  Identity Verified
Macedonië (VJRM)
Local time: 07:59
Engels naar Macedonisch
+ ...
excuse Dec 16

Maria Laura Curzi wrote:

Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

Maria Laura Curzi wrote:

Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

I had mine on 14, but back than there weren't smartphones, no camera, no color screen. Today you can't track what your own kids are doing on their phones, or more importantly on other kid's phones gathered. There were plenty incidents these days in my country, where the kids saw some video on TikTok and they did what they saw.
https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-students-superman-challenge-injuries-ban-d3bdf11d57e1cb651df96a174da2ff59

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:24 GMT]

[Edited at 2024-12-13 18:35 GMT]


There are several parental control apps to track what kinds do with the phone. These parental control apps can limit internet access or block some websites/apps such as TikTok or Google Play, so kids can't download anything without parents permission.



These days you can find tutorials on internet about everything, so getting passed through parental control is not that hard. You simply cannot control the teenagers.


Yes, you're indeed right; teenagers are very difficult to control. I guess that's why it's important to have good communication with them.
In my country, the current problem in relationship phone teenagers is illegal gambling. There's an advertising campaign on television to make them aware of the risks.



Here too, and they ban the online websites for gambling and now we pay 15% tax on every win. And if a teenager win than he/she have to give his/her birth date on the register for the tax, and that's how the teenagers can't play, because they will be caught if they win. But in my days this wasn't an issue, we played with our allowance money every weekend. So, the kids are just an excuse for that 15% tax on every win, if you are asking me. When I was a teenager, the internet was still dial up and very expensive, I went online only in night hours cuz it was cheaper, but the network was overloaded, and we had internet cafes, something that these kids today don't have.

Here is my ticket from yesterday, I almost won it.
0.27 pounds is minimal bet, and almost win 29 pounds.
Now, I only have voucher for missing one match.



[Edited at 2024-12-16 08:55 GMT]

[Edited at 2024-12-16 08:57 GMT]


 


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Poll: At what age do you think children should have access to their own personal phone?






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