Iphone for 10 year old

Eircom_Sucks

before i get lashed out of it

my son had an ipad mini 4 and has knackered the screen on it

i was playing with the issue of getting him an iphone ( like iphone 6 or 7 ) simfree and paying €10 a month virgin media contract for all you can eat data etc

but disabling the data and literally only letting him use the iphone for calling or texting and has he matures then allow him to use data outside etc

while inside he can use the wifi to use youtube and roblox etc

any thoughts ??

don't wanna get a new screen if maybe down the line i'll begetting him a phone

Gregor Samsa

My daughter's 12. She currently has my old 7, but only has access on wi-fi, plus there's fairly strict scree-time restrictions. So she can use it for 30 minutes each day for Snapchat and Among Us. She can use Apple Music, the calculator and the camera as much as she wants.

I'll want her to have a phone going to secondary school in September (she'll be commuting herself, so want her to be able to make/take calls), so once the summer holidays start, I'll be doing similar to you - getting a cheap phone plan, disabling data getting her used to having the phone. I'll be able to turn on data for when she really needs it for short periods of time, and as she gets older, give her more leeway on that.

starkid

Just keep them away from tiktok. made the fatal mistake of not following the tiktok trend and my 12 year old is facing mental issues due to the way that app works and my own ignorance. I'm not living with my daughter so had less control over the situation but i was one who was ignorant. my eyes are open now. There is some amount of a cesspool out there now. So it will lead to arguments around opening up the screen time sooner or later. Try and prolong it as long as possible i say.

Eircom_Sucks

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

My daughter's 12. She currently has my old 7, but only has access on wi-fi, plus there's fairly strict scree-time restrictions. So she can use it for 30 minutes each day for Snapchat and Among Us. She can use the calculator and the camera as much as she wants.

I'll want her to have a phone going to secondary school in September (she'll be commuting herself, so want her to be able to make/take calls), so once the summer holidays start, I'll be doing similar to you - getting a cheap phone plan, disabling data getting her used to having the phone. I'll be able to turn on data for when she really needs it for short periods of time, and as she gets older, give her more leeway on that.

that's my thoughts

he's a good 10 year old , but he won't have access to the appstore password . that way he can't put on apps unless we allow

might also look into an app that shows what he is looking at etc to keep an eye on it incase he's on a pals wifi or something

Eircom_Sucks

starkid wrote: »

Just keep them away from tiktok. made the fatal mistake of not following the tiktok trend and my 12 year old is facing mental issues due to the way that app works and my own ignorance. I'm not living with my daughter so had less control over the situation but i was one who was ignorant. my eyes are open now. There is some amount of a cesspool out there now. So it will lead to arguments around opening up the screen time sooner or later. Try and prolong it as long as possible i say.

i'm not with my 2 either , but see them everyday

its the " but dad my friends all have tiktok " arguements , im sure they all don't but i don't want him to feel left out or treated diff

TheMilkyPirate

"All my friends are on Snapchat" is all I heard for months straight from my 11 year old. Not a hope he was ever getting it so turns out he found out the password to Family link and downloaded it himself. Phone was taken off him and he won't be getting it back for the foreseeable.

Keep your kids away from social media as long as you can. Don't even entertain the idea.

starkid

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

i'm not with my 2 either , but see them everyday

its the " but dad my friends all have tiktok " arguements , im sure they all don't but i don't want him to feel left out or treated diff

Yeah no i totally get you my daughters friends are having that argument. In one way maybe facing it now will get her over the hump later, i don't know. But on tiktok there is criminiality, porn, violence, pervs etc. Obviously alot of good as well. But from what i've seen of moderation ( i work for one social media giant) its lagging way behind and has needed to hire 5k people in Dublin.

Now that i know i would caution anybody. My daughter has had a serious mental health crisis, obviously not all attributed to one thing, but its clearly a huge part and follows the Worldwide trend of increasing mental health problems due to social media and how it works.

Tiktok which is the only reason kids want a phone really, has really dangerous algorithims at play and a random roulette wheel of teeing up videos (which in reality is queud by algorithims) and play times, that work just like crack. Even tracking it now as a parent im finding myself sucked in.

If people doubt some of this just take a look at all the joyriding videos on accounts. I reported a few Dublin ones, tiktok ignored it. The onlyfans thing as well is luring people in and its just creating this terrible zeitgeist/culture now. I'm 36 like i get the cool part of it. But the dangers for pre 16 are so obvious im raging at myself for being so ignorant.

twitter, instagram and facebook have issues but are far more established etc, but of course are "uncool" or for boomers. Snapchat has lost alot of people to tiktok and unless they sort their **** out this will be crisis imo. Sorry for going on but i wish i could go back in time to you.

Perhaps a phone completely controlled and no tiktok until they are a certain age or the company itself cops the **** on.