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this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
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Technology
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as a parent, I would say what matters is geo-location and text to coordinate pick-up or plans. there is no need for younger kids to have a full fledged phone if one could be developed that serves those functions. I'm thinking 90s flip phones with GPS. It really sounds like a gold mine for some company to supply these limited devices given the market for them.
Someone is downvoting everything but I agree. I try and keep my helicopter parent impulses under control, but it is nice to know exactly where my kids are. My son (12) has a locked down old iPhone and Apple makes it pretty easy to make it practically a dumb phone. We literally have it set up so that he has to ask for permission before using any apps, with the exception of calling and messaging. (Even messaging is iffy; we want to be able to text him but it opens up texting with friends.) He doesn’t need it at school so he doesn’t bring it, but as he gets older, I’m sure it’ll start to go with him and I’m not upset about it. If he wants to go somewhere with a friend right after school instead of going straight home, it’s fine with me as long as I know about it. Without a phone, it’d be hard for him to make such plans on the fly, and let’s just say that planning ahead isn’t my ADHD-kid’s strong suit (yet—we’re working on it). As long as the expectation is set that he doesn’t use it during school, I think that’s okay; it can just live in his backpack until school is over.
Indeed - three top level posts got downvotes from the same two accounts (with the second likely being an alt) within a minute.
I just talk to my kids and it works just fine
Talk? Like, vocally? Eww, so old school.
There are options for that. Like Gabb phones and such. No Internet or social media mostly just talk, text, and geolocation.
I'm completely ignorant of "Gabb" phones. I'll have to investigate. Also, I should probably add that while I'm a parent my kids are now grown so my opinions on this are dated. They all have full fledged smartphones at this point... and jobs... and lives. LOL