Comments on: Mom, Can I Have A Smartphone?

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:51:16 +0000

I have to add my input. At 17, I can’t say I’m the cats meow of computer experts, but if I wanted to, I could easily give myself administrator rights on any computer in the house. And the best part, they would never know I’ve done it. So parental blocks would be virtually useless. I would use a backdoor in the computers CMOS (it’s basically a circuit on the motherboard, no way to stop me from getting on there). I just want to make a point that while a respect a parent’s decision to block out the world, I have to say I disagree for one, enough determination can render that decision invalid. But more importantly, I belei e early exposure and understanding can be good

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:49:51 +0000

My daughter will probably have a phone at an early age, just simply because I’m divorced and it will be her means to communicate with both me and her father. I know technology can be tempting for kids to abuse, but I’m open in talking about the dangers of things. Computers are different, we only have and need one in our house and I work from home, so that piece is primarily my income maker. I have her educational options on it though at this point. She doesn’t have free access to the internet, but it’s not as tight as yours seems to be either.

By: April

April — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:06:55 +0000

Thanks for responding. My daughter will be getting a cellphone this year (she’s 11) because she is entering middle school that is some distance from home. It will not be a smartphone, and as I have done with my son’s…the internet will be inaccessible on it. I agree that frequent discussions with the kids, media agreements, restrictions and controls are the way to go. Have a great day!

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:02:32 +0000

Great to hear the differing opinions here. My daughter will soon be 12 and wants a phone. If/when she gets it, it will not be a smartphone. However, she has an iPod touch and it already has all the features of a smartphone. I write about all these topics on my blog because I think parents want to do the right thing but either aren’t aware of the issues or don’t know how to take the right steps. Not all are tech savvy! I like the combination of open/frequent discussions, family media agreements, restrictions and controls based on age and experience, and random checks of devices – again, based on age and experience. But that’s just me, and everyone has their own parenting style.

By: April

April — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:49:10 +0000

In my opinion, you can’t be too careful in protecting your kids. I really don’t understand why parents would get their young kids smartphones (or the other items I listed). My point is to make parents aware of some of the dangers our kids face when they let them have these items as I’ve noticed that alot of parents are simply uneducated on the dangers of the internet. I would hope that parents will educate themselves and if they still chose to purchase these items for their kids…I hope they take some steps in protecting them by using parental control software and regularly monitoring their internet usage.