At what age did your child get a phone?
Posted by proxima-centauri-@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 24 comments
My son is 8 and it just occurred to me that sooner or later he will get a phone. I haven't made up my mind yet on when I will let him have one. I want to keep him off social media for as long as possible. He uses a computer under supervision now but it will be hard to keep an eye once they get hold of phones, I guess.
Curious about other people's thoughts on this. At what age did your child get a phone? Did they start using some social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, titkok etc) straight away?
andytimms67@reddit
Aged 9 - Secondary school (3 tier system) when walking on her own. No snapchat. No tik tok, no insta and apps can’t be added without permission. WhatsApp app for the family group chat and right to review at any time (*recently been bullied)
IsItToday@reddit
I gave a phone to my kids at 10/11 when they started walking alone to school. Social media only after 13 as per their regulations. They spend far too much time in it which I hate, but they’re sensible on what they see and I keep an eye on it. Not to say they wouldn’t be seeing inappropriate stuff behind my back but it’s the best I can do considering that even if I blocked everything they’d still have access to their friends’ phones.
No-Agent3916@reddit
10 year old has an old phone , not a smart phone , he walks home from school so it just gives us a chance to find out where he is. He won’t get a smart phone for a long time although kids In His class do already.
r2dtsuga@reddit
Obligatory not a parent comment. I got a used one at 13, a few months after my birthday. If you're concerned about online safety, watch out for other devices too. My family were under the impression that unlimited laptop and tablet access from under 10 was fine as I wouldn't be able to add people's numbers. But I got into a whole discord fiasco at ~11 by using the laptop I used for online lessons for online socialisation.
plantking9001@reddit
I was 15 when I got my first phone. Granted, it was also 2010 and it was a fancy slider lol
I guess for today's world I would say give them a smartphone when you're ready enough for them to have some sorta Internet access. Unless you want to get them an actual brick phone for basic use only
WJC198119@reddit
Daughter got one at 10 although she has little interest in it she's more of an outdoors/animal kid
steveakacrush@reddit
My son got his first at 11 as he started secondary school.
gdrlee@reddit
My daughter is 8, she's had access to a tablet for ages. But it's for games. Social media and all that I'll put off for as long as possible.
I reckon she'll be ready to understand the state of human interaction when she's 32 or so. Maybe sooner if the rest of the world grow the fuck up quicker.
Jazzy0082@reddit
My 9 year old has had one for a year, but it's just our version of a cheap tablet (was my wife's old phone). Used for a couple of games and some animation and video editing apps. No SIM card so can only be used at home, and it's linked to my Google account so she can't download any apps or access anything dodgy.
Honestly it's been amazing for her - she's an absolute whizz at creating and editing animations and videos, it's unlocked a real creative side to her.
Do_You_Have_Shampoo@reddit
I was 11, unsupervised. unpleasant experience wouldn’t recommend .
OddPiglet6589@reddit
About 5 or 6. She watches YouTube & Netflix on it.
Now she's 9 she plays Roblox / fortnight / Minecraft on her PC and her friends will be on a group chat all playing tag same game.
We also make sure she takes her phone with her when she's out so we can track her.
Oh... Random phone checks by me too.
OddPiglet6589@reddit
About 5 or 6. She watches YouTube & Netflix on it.
Now she's 9 she plays Roblox / fortnight / Minecraft on her PC and her friends will be on a group chat all playing tag same game.
We also make sure she takes her phone with her when she's out so we can track her.
Oh... Random phone checks by me too.
Valuable-Wallaby-167@reddit
I work with kids, with a few outliers they get them from about 7 upwards, they become increasingly common from about 10 up. Personally if you can get away with him not having one until secondary school, I would. You could also get one and have it without internet data so you can download games at home for him and you can call him if he's playing out but he can't use social media on it.
Fast-Entertainer-583@reddit
Since very young, he traveled alone to & from school. So it was a necessity. It was a flip phone, no safety concerns at all. Still he was the proudest boy. After a while, I believe at around 10, I got him a proper one with a touchscreen. Then we kept on alternating between the 2, since he was misbehaving. Now you know there was no more flaunting around with that brick one.
tuBBy_greGGy@reddit
I’m 24 now, and I got my first phone when I was 15. I did have Facebook, but to be honest, the only reason my parents gave me a phone was for group projects. They would take it away during the holidays, though!
thereisalwaysrescue@reddit
My son is 7 and has to travel in a taxi everyday for school. He has a £20 flip phone with a huge SOS button on it that calls Dad 🤣 he rings when he’s on his way home, or if the taxi is stuck in traffic. However there are kids in the taxi with iPhones!
Accurate_Prompt_8800@reddit
Got mine at 9/10 but I didn’t use it for much really. Think I just played games and texted friends on it occasionally.
Born in 2000 but Instagram didn’t come until I started secondary school in 2012 anyway lol. And that’s when I got FB / Snapchat. So there really wasn’t any social media I was using up to then anyway.
When I have a child they’ll get a phone around 10/11/12 for secondary school.
DameKumquat@reddit
Mine got phones to use for a few games age 7-8, but no SIM card. No interest in social media except Roblox on a PC, strict rule not to add any 'friends' they didn't already know.
Age 10 (y5) they got brick phones for going to/from school etc. No smartphones allowed at primary.
Smartphone for secondary. My kids actually hate social media and think TikTok and Insta are for losers - I admit I've not tried to disabuse them of that, but I have the opposite problem to most parents in that I'd love them to communicate more via phones. They will now text occasionally.
p1p68@reddit
16 but that was in the very early 2000's. My 5 grandkids are 4 5 6 8 9 both sets of parents have discussed this topic. Once walking to school solo, they will get them a brick phone, no internet. Smart phone not till 16.
runningman299@reddit
I think 8 is too young
My daughter is 9, 10 at Christmas and in Year 5
She’ll get one next Christmas in year 6, ready for high school. Ideally it’d have waited till April time after half term but it ties in well as a birthday/Xmas present.
kwaklog@reddit
My son has one now he's 11 and in secondary school, he cycles to and from school now, so I want him to be able to contact me
You can lock down alot of functionality to Android if you want, I blocked YouTube, the Play Store and loads of other stuff. It's basically a touchscreen brick-phone
The school lock them all away during the day, so he only has it out of school hours
kwaklog@reddit
My son has one now he's 11 and in secondary school, he cycles to and from school now, so I want him to be able to contact me
You can lock down alot of functionality to Android if you want, I blocked YouTube, the Play Store and loads of other stuff. It's basically a touchscreen brick-phone
The school lock them all away during the day, so he only has it out of school hours
huskydaisy@reddit
I was 15 but it's not really a fair marker since mobile phones were brand spanking new at the time. I think it's more important to speak to the parents of your kid's friends because that's going to be the driving factor for him wanting to connect online.
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