How Old Should A Child Be To Get A Phone?

[Zone D Dad]

My oldest got a phone entering Jr. High School. He was participating in sports after school and we needed a way to communicate. My 11 year old got a phone last year for medical reasons. He's diabetic and it serves as his continuous glucose monitor, so he's allowed to have it in class with him. Also allows us to monitor him remotely. He's reasonably responsible with it.

Tell you what - when your kids have a phone, it gives you serious leverage when they get in trouble. Grounding them from their phone or being able to shut down their data? Serves as a pretty good deterrent.

 

[prufrock21]

Very difficult to determine when a youngster is responsible enough to handle a phone, especially a phone with access to the Net. I would think that during the high school years would be a good time.

 

[fljoe0]

It's ok as long as he's old enough to understand: with a cell phone comes great irresponsibility

 

[recitador]

My oldest got a phone entering Jr. High School. He was participating in sports after school and we needed a way to communicate. My 11 year old got a phone last year for medical reasons. He's diabetic and it serves as his continuous glucose monitor, so he's allowed to have it in class with him. Also allows us to monitor him remotely. He's reasonably responsible with it.

Tell you what - when your kids have a phone, it gives you serious leverage when they get in trouble. Grounding them from their phone or being able to shut down their data? Serves as a pretty good deterrent.

i didn't realize phones could do that now. recently found out i'm diabetic, but so far managing through diet and pills, haven't needed constant monitoring thankfully (of course, i'm not type 1 like your son) . . . but if i ever get that bad it's interesting to know that exists as an option

 

[Zone D Dad]

i didn't realize phones could do that now. recently found out i'm diabetic, but so far managing through diet and pills, haven't needed constant monitoring thankfully (of course, i'm not type 1 like your son) . . . but if i ever get that bad it's interesting to know that exists as an option

Sorry to hear that. Diabetes sucks.
Yeah, it's amazing technology really. What's really cool is the exploration of having a continuous glucose monitor communicate with an insulin pump - aka the artificial pancreas. New developments everyday in the T1D world, which is awesome.

 

[recitador]

Sorry to hear that. Diabetes sucks.
Yeah, it's amazing technology really. What's really cool is the exploration of having a continuous glucose monitor communicate with an insulin pump - aka the artificial pancreas. New developments everyday in the T1D world, which is awesome.

my family on my moms side has somewhat of a history, although usually later. it's probably my fault i hit it earlier, cause i didn't have very good eating habits (my mom didn't really cook so i was bad about getting into it too until recently). the existence of the internet can be super helpful for figuring things out like this though. started the keto diet. high fat, moderate protein, low carbs/sugar. sounds sort of counterintuitive on the surface but works pretty good. had an a1c of 11.7 and dropped to 5.3 after a few months of dieting and have lost about 35 pounds since late january. i think it's 6.5 and above they consider you diabetic? something like that. here's to continually improving technology. as prevalent as diabetes is these days it'd be nice to reduce it to more of a nuisance than the huge problem it has the potential to be.

 

[GNTLGNT]

my family on my moms side has somewhat of a history, although usually later. it's probably my fault i hit it earlier, cause i didn't have very good eating habits (my mom didn't really cook so i was bad about getting into it too until recently). the existence of the internet can be super helpful for figuring things out like this though. started the keto diet. high fat, moderate protein, low carbs/sugar. sounds sort of counterintuitive on the surface but works pretty good. had an a1c of 11.7 and dropped to 5.3 after a few months of dieting and have lost about 35 pounds since late january. i think it's 6.5 and above they consider you diabetic? something like that. here's to continually improving technology. as prevalent as diabetes is these days it'd be nice to reduce it to more of a nuisance than the huge problem it has the potential to be.

For people without diabetes, the normal range for the hemoglobin A1c test is between 4% and 5.6%. Hemoglobin A1c levels between 5.7% and 6.4% indicate increased risk of diabetes, and levels of 6.5% or higher indicate diabetes.

 

[recitador]

For people without diabetes, the normal range for the hemoglobin A1c test is between 4% and 5.6%. Hemoglobin A1c levels between 5.7% and 6.4% indicate increased risk of diabetes, and levels of 6.5% or higher indicate diabetes.

thanks, knew it was something like that, but i honestly couldn't remember everything the doc said, other than knowing my numbers went back to basically normal after i started the dieting/pills

 

[GNTLGNT]

thanks, knew it was something like that, but i honestly couldn't remember everything the doc said, other than knowing my numbers went back to basically normal after i started the dieting/pills

....yep, that was a hell of a drop....

 

[recitador]

....yep, that was a hell of a drop....

yeah, think i was spiking for a bit before i got diagnosed, cause it was pretty high

 

[Zone D Dad]

My son has only had it for about a year and a half, and boy is it a steep learning curve. He's a pretty tough kid though. His blood sugar was about 650 the day he was diagnosed. Horrific, truly scary stuff.

 

[Neesy]

I was 38 when I got my first one, so that sounds like the right age to me.

I was 44!

 

[SusanNorton]

Every family has to decide for themselves. We gave my daughter a flip phone when she was 10, only because we were having to travel back and forth for my husband's cancer treatments and she'd stay behind with friends so she didn't miss school. She got a smart phone when she turned 16 last year, which has been useful since her father and I divorced, because I miss her when she's staying with him and I can see her face.

But I must say... I still get nervous about the things she could possibly see on that phone, and she'll be 17 next week.

 

[king family fan]

We got our son a phone just the other day. He is 13.

 

[Kingunlucky]

I'd say it's fine.

I understand not wanting to..the kids do seem to have their noses buried in them these days and imagine the terrible things they may see, but what are you gonna do? The phones are here. Most kids have them and those that don't probably get smaller everyday. I think, barring a horrible catastrophe, this is the way now. The days of just like being completely unconnected... ya know? Going out without an automatic way to call and look things up are pretty much done.

I wouldn't say its bad or good.

A lot of older people will get nervous about them, younger ones won't. The young ones who use them now will worry when they are older about something else.

It just is.

The past can more become the future than the future can become the past.

Of course, still enforce the proper rules with it.

 

[arista]

I am going to say whatever age a child gets a phone, probably more adept at using the smart phone than myself.

 

[Anduan Pirate Princess]

Knowing how I was in middle and high school, I would have lost a cell phone on a weekly basis! But, I look back a lot and think of how much easier it would have been to be able to call my dad or mom to come pick me up if I had to stay after school for an activity or something (there was a pay phone, but I usually forgot to carry change with me! I was a mess, lol.)

 

[staropeace]

I think kids should have phones and adults should have landlines lol.

 

[17021jude]

I raised my kids alone, and so money was always an issue for us. Until they got jobs to support their use of a cell phone, they used a land line to make calls. But we lived in small town rural America, two blocks walk to my work from the house, three blocks to the school etc. But things change in this world so fast, and the crime seems to be getting out of hand even in small town rural America.. I could see how having a cell phone at a young age would be a great comfort for each family member. Now days if they are old enough to be in school they are most likely old enough for a cell phone.

 

[Mel217]

My personal opinion is, if a phone is to be had, it's a phone and nothing more and any age is fine so long as they're old enough to operate one responsibly.
Smart phones, Super Smart Phones, Genius Phones and Fidget Spinner Phones or whatever the hell it is kids want in a phone these days can wait until they're able to foot the bill.