Should smart phones be banned for under 16s?

burtie said:
Just turn off the internet, problem solved.
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Kids are taking photos of teachers etc. Organising social media fights on school grounds etc. it's is getting out of hand.

Snapchat the way it is makes it very difficult to parent and if your kid doesn't have it they become a social outcast.

You can watch your kids social media but any with half a brain will have several insta and Snapchat accounts.

Social media as it is at the moment is basically the wild west.

You cannot compare phones now to how it was when we were teenagers. Social media didn't exist.
 
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I'm not a parent.

I see both sides.

If you take away something, you may damage that person. Such as not being familiar with tech.

On flip side I'm glad (at 38)i didn't have a phone growing up.
I'd probably be addicted to games etc like many kids are.

But banning rarely works.


Its very hard to ignore phones/screens + mental health correlation.
From a personal point of view I find it very easy to sit ony phone and feel ****.. I wasted time. Vs getting off it and going out. So what chance do kids have?
Much of social media isn't great. Especially what's pushed to you.
For example. I watch a lot of aninal videos.. But over time many reels have included aninal Cruelty. (ie vids from far east) and I've just had to stop as it's so sick.
Many people can't switch off. So if getting fed this **** no telling what else happens.
 
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throwaway4372 said:
IMO the internet ruins society
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The internet didn't ruin society. It was designed to help the world collaborate academically.

GREED ruined society and it used the internet to do so. One of the greatest mistakes of the internet was 'access for all'. Making it so even the terminally stupid had access.

Anyway back to the topic.

My wife and I have discussed this and decided that our children, when they reach the age of 10 will have a mobile phone. It's at this age that we expect that they'll want to go out on their own, with friends etc so we want them to be able to contact us and vice-versa.

They both already have WiFi only tablets which are locked down using parental control software, the phones will be no different. They will also have to agree to GPS tracking software as part of the conditions of using it.
 
Definitely not, absolute bans like that is more agenda lead than anything else IMO and a lazy, not a good way to deal with a few problem kids often down to poor parenting.

Within the school environment there needs to be some changes though.
 
Resident said:
But governments want to ban TikTok (which I agree with) but not this neferious app.
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It is crazy and I think a lot are naive on here and don't have teenage children. Snapchat can give your exact location. Which is great in some ways but also fantastic if you are a predator and befriend vulnerable children. Not to mention the whole auto delete messages and one view snaps.

I don't think mobiles need to be banned but software available to kids needs to be policed.
 
Smart phone yes, ban.

Mobile phone no, it's handy for kids to have when they start going out.

I got 2 kids.

Fortunately boys, and the oldest is 17 reasonably smart when it comes to social media etc.

It's young girls I really worry about.
 
Smartphone ban, yes.

A phone that can make calls, send messages, and has GPS (so one can keep tabs on the little scrotes) would be ok. That's it.

Dad to two sons, aged 9 and 12. 9 year old has a phone with no sim card so he can use it on WiFi, 12 year old has a phone with sim. We check his phone weekly. But to be honest, it's a pointless exercise, as plenty gets sent around via whatsapp and snapchat that's 1 view then disappears. At home we're behind adblockers and adult content blockers over WiFi, same applies to the simcard, so he can't access inappropriate content via a browser.
 
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shifty_uk said:
Not sure what age you are but the biggest decision I had when phones first came out was whether to buy a polyphonic or monophonic ring tone from some hotline.

It’s totally different now.

Even then, phones weren’t allowed in class.
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I'm 34 now, and football (real football) video games and online gaming were my biggest distractions, that got in the way of me focusing on homework and being a better student. At least with the way revision and studying can be more interactive now, and on the go as well. There's a chance the student can make up for slacking with the right apps potentially as well.

My parents could have restricted my usage, and perhaps I would have come out of it a better student ( I doubt it ) I'd have probably just found another distraction or worse to keep me occupied.

Yeah I remember coming back to the UK when I was living abroad and all my friends having the basic Nokia phones, so it's not a new phenomenon and everyone in my class had a phone at 13. The fact they can do "everything" now is also why they should have one.

And then you can restrict as you choose.

I don't have children so it's hard to say how I'd choose to act. I'll probably let them have unrestricted use. And do my best to make sure they are into a few forced social activities as well at least in their formative years.
 
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bloodiedathame said:
Smartphone ban, yes.

A phone that can make calls, send messages, and has GPS (so one can keep tabs on the little scrotes) would be ok. That's it.

Dad to two sons, aged 9 and 12. 9 year old has a phone with no sim card so he can use it on WiFi, 12 year old has a phone with sim. We check his phone weekly. But to be honest, it's a pointless exercise, as plenty gets sent around via whatsapp and snapchat that's 1 view then disappears. At home we're behind adblockers and adult content blockers over WiFi, same applies to the simcard, so he can't access inappropriate content via a browser.
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what do you when you want to go on xhamster or a related site?
 
adam cool dude said:
Kids are taking photos of teachers etc. Organising social media fights on school grounds etc. it's is getting out of hand.

Snapchat the way it is makes it very difficult to parent and if your kid doesn't have it they become a social outcast.

You can watch your kids social media but any with half a brain will have several insta and Snapchat accounts.

Social media as it is at the moment is basically the wild west.

You cannot compare phones now to how it was when we were teenagers. Social media didn't exist.
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Oh I get it, I'm all for banning phones in schools which should be a thing anyway. I didn't have a mobile phone until I was 24 and the most it did was play snake, text, and calls.
 
Jack_green said:
I think there has to be a smart phone license for people that use the phone while walking.
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The number of times I see people wander out into the road, without looking, while glued to their phone makes me shudder - I'm surprised more aren't hit. Bit off topic for this thread though.
 
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