505
‘It went nuts’: Thousands join UK parents calling for smartphone-free childhood
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
505 points (96.3% liked)
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Peer pressure. Kids at school get the new greatest phone and tell their parents. Parents feel compelled to get it for their kids.
That's still on the parents. My little lad is 15 and never had his own phone until his tweens. Amusingly, he was older than me when I got my first phone back in the 90s.
He never got bullied for not having a phone.
He may not have been bullied, but he may have missed out on bonding and closeness that his peers enjoyed. There was a study that showed life is way better for kids if they don't have a phone, but only if their peers also don't have phones
This fact alone makes me conflicted about this. I don't want my kids to walk around having phones from an early age, but I know first hand that being excluded as a kid is not a enjoyable experience. And kids are vicious creatures to each other too.
All I never had was a Gameboy I didn't get an actual phone until I was in high school.
It had polyphonic ringtones and an IR blaster, it was the business.
Maybe he just didn't tell you.
lol people calling 15-year-olds "little lads" makes me feel like a baby
(i'm 13 :/)
Not just pressure to get a fancy phone but that most of the socializing happens on social media now. Even if they sit in the same class, it's a snapchat message.
If they don't have access to it, they're social outcasts by default.
It's fucking crazy..
I think if the kids want to bully, they'd just find a lonely and defenseless target and invent an excuse. If you are a potential target, having an expensive phone wouldn't save you anyway.
You'd be surprised! I was bullied throughout school for my shoes (fake Elllese). But one day I came in wearing a Fila jumper for non-school uniform day and everyone was my best fucking friend. Kids are evil.