[outime]

This looks like a smart kid from the description given. It's possible that he spent a good time reading recent literature about the drawbacks and decided not to join the masses. Or he just thought twice before following everyone. Either way it's always refreshing to find very young people doing different stuff by themselves as it's specially tough not to follow the trends during that age.

I also noticed that there's something different compared to when we were teens which we often forget and it's that there are devices (smartphones) which are used as extreme surveillance tools by some parents. It'd not be unreasonable to think that this only reason may make the devices much more unattractive to them.

Edit: verb typo.

[ordu]

> This looks like a smart kid from the description given. It's possible that he spent a good time reading recent literature about the drawbacks and decided not to join the masses. Or he just thought twice before following everyone.

Or it is a reaction to a parent obsession. I can imagine how a kid hates screens because parent spend more time with them then with the kid.

[xemdetia]

I don't have any insight but from just various anecdotes about kids getting smartphones I would say: they are now getting them in early primary school rather than late secondary school, exceptionally helicoptering parents have only become more obnoxious, and most kids are still pressed into many extracurriculars. If I was of the same mindset when I was child in this day's age being exposed to other children with completely obnoxious phone usage would be completely off-putting and I would not want any part of it. It might be that the observed negatives of having a smartphone as a child from peers and parents would be probably higher than any perceived benefit. Then with the way I see some parents help/press kids into after school activities many probably are crying for that separation to have a space away from their parents (which is one of the most valuable experiences schools provide), and so keeping that wall there is inevitably valuable.

[derefr]

I.e. the same reason for the creation of the "straightedge" subculture in the 90s: they had developed a revulsion to the mistakes they grew up around.

[m463]

I agree.

I think the way most teenagers walk this path is by being on different services than their parents ("facebook is for moms!")

There could also be an element of "this phone is more for you than for me", like if your employer "generously" gives you a cellphone.

[tootie]

My 11-year old also never looks at her phone. We actually keep having to remind her to do so because we are texting her with reminders all the time. She seems to have almost zero interest in texting with her friends and will only occasionally play games or read books on the Kindle app. It's 100% just her personality though. Nothing that she learned to do. I also track her location with it and she likes us knowing where she is because she doesn't have a great sense of direction and is scared of getting lost.

[Wowfunhappy]

> We actually keep having to remind her to do so because we are texting her with reminders all the time.

Wouldn't a good-old voice call be the logical fix for this?

[tootie]

She doesn't answer either. She tends to just leave it somewhere and the ringer is usually off because it has to be at school.