[smoldesu]

Or maybe... just don't give your kids an iPhone?

Seriously, using the internet/computers should be treated with the same level of caution as grown-up scissors or fillet knives; powerful tools, but they need training to avoid hurting yourself with them. If this is what you're worried about, why are you even giving them a small computer in the first place? Your kids will always be more cunning than your security policy (a hard pill to swallow for HN users), so control their access to technology unless you're ready to have a serious sit-down discussion about the internet, personal privacy, and all that jazz. Put yourself in their shoes; if you're given a small black brick with an indeterminate number of capabilities, wouldn't your response be pushing it as far as it can go? I know that was my reaction when I was a kid, after buying a Pentium desktop at a garage sale.

[bigfudge]

Says someone who doesn’t have kids. I really don’t think it’s a big empathetic leap to imagine that young teens would want to take part in the modern world, and that includes some access to the internet.

And no, constant supervision is not an appropriate answer. Teens will want to research some things without their parents’ knowledge. That’s normal.

But it doesn’t mean that we should throw our hands in the air and make no effort to protect the majority of kids from the worst of the internet. Yes some bright sparks may find ways to circumvent the controls, but it at least makes it harder for them to send a disguised goatse link to their friends.

[tablespoon]

> Says someone who doesn’t have kids. I really don’t think it’s a big empathetic leap to imagine that young teens would want to take part in the modern world, and that includes some access to the internet.

At one point, "tak[ing] part in the modern world" included smoking, and lots of kids wanted to do it. Just saying.

[Minor49er]

I wish this was still considered to be common sense

[jacquesm]

Brilliant insight. Could you please convince my children's school that they do not need a smartphone? Because they f'ing mandate it and I have not found a way around this yet.

[mixmastamyk]

What happens if you refuse?

[jacquesm]

Good question, haven't researched that yet, thanks for the idea.

[munk-a]

Flip phones still exist and allow access to call in emergencies as well as text with friends.

[sh4rks]

Not sure if bait but I'll bite. Flip phones in this day and age? Nobody even uses sms to text each other anymore. You'd be isolating your kid by not giving them access to WhatsApp and other messaging apps.

I pray you never have kids because from your other comments it seems like you had painfully low self esteem in school and now you've tricked yourself into believing that that's the norm.

[jacquesm]

Yes, but they specifically mandate a smartphone.

[underwater]

This is such a naive take. I assume you don't have kids or teens?

Children don't exist in a neat subservient bubble. They have peers, social pressures, see advertising, consume television and movies.

Our kid's school had everyone buy an iPad. Already, at pre-phone age, so much socialisation has moved into the digital space. FaceTime, iMessage, Roblox, etc.

I was going to say banning phones would be like a kid in the 80s without television. But really it would be like being a kid in the 80s who wasn't allowed to have a TV, listen to the radio, have a phone line, and wasn't allowed to socialise outside of school.

[sroussey]

Actually, TV was severely limited as were video games. We were told to go outside and not come back until it was getting dark.

[TedDoesntTalk]

They’re given chrome books in school and can’t complete assignments without them. Now what?

[mixmastamyk]

They're just linux, provide your own. There are many options.

[chinchilla2020]

You don't have kids.

Your child would be the only one at school with no phone and probably be pretty embarrassed about it.

[munk-a]

In school I was embarrassed about the clothes I wore... also the calculator I had and my shoes and my lunch and my trapper keeper and my pencils...

Kids being embarrassed at school is unavoidable, being embarrassed is practically the job description of a teenager and younger students often have their own insecurities. There's an interesting debate as to whether these embarrassments are good or bad for us in the long run but we can side step all of that... not having access to a smartphone is important - it's important enough to warrant the slight amount of embarrassment.

[ars]

You can't live in today's world without a phone.

All the mechanisms of the past that were geared for this no longer exist.

For example: Drive on the road, get to a toll, don't have a Transponder to pay the bill? No problem - just call a phone number. Uh, what if I don't have a cell? This literally never even occurred to them, there is no alternative way to pay the bill.

That's life today, and it applies to children as well. Want to go to some sports place that only caters to teens and above? Load this website on your phone and fill out an application. Don't have a phone? Borrow a friends phone.

[Minor49er]

The toll roads I've seen on the east coast will just scan your license plate and mail you a bill if you don't have a transponder

[vanilla_nut]

Frequently at an increased rate. The garden isn’t fully walled yet, but they are closing in. I’ve already had to refuse to participate in social and work events that required me to download an app to my smartphone.

[Broken_Hippo]

This is the common way in Norway. Have the toll thingy or get a bill.