Kids, Mobiles & Social Networks

gayleygoo

If you don't want your daughter to spend all her time on the internet on her phone, then a cheapy mobile is fine for what the intended use is. My kids aren't old enough for me to be worrying about this yet, but DH and I hope to be quite firm on not allowing them smartphones until they are old enough to earn money and pay the contracts themselves!

Internet safety wise, if you do get a phone with internet access then ensure you use whatever parental controls you can to avoid app charges, downloads etc, and some sort of capped limit so she can't just sit on it all day. At an internet safety evening hosted by the local primary school, they said the best thing to do was to discuss with your children why it was important to be safe online - ask them how they intend to stay safe online. Doling out rules is often an invitation to a teenager to break them, so make sure they understand why the rules are there and also any consequences of breaking them.

MadDogWoman_2

I bought my DD a mobile over the summer (a basic PAYG talk and text) Nokia.

She is 7, but she is only allowed it for after school activities where she is left (dance and gymnastics) so if something happens or something is forgotten she can get hold of us.

The rest of the time it lives on the bookshelf switched off.

She does have a Kindle Fire HD, but that's locked up pretty well, all social sites, In App Purchasing blocked and the Amazon store is password protected - she doesn't know the password so has to ask if she wants a new game downloading.

DD has asked about FB as she sees me on it, but I've told her she has to be 13, even then I would insist on being friends with her.

Hoseman

We'll see about Facebook! Twitter has gone btw, she deleted before we even spoke about it that day.

What me peed me off the day of my opening post amongst other things was that her friend stayed round (same age) and she hardly lifted her head from the phone, even when spoken to.

Internet generally isnt a problem as her phone cant access it 'on the road' (mobile data is turned off and she hasn't worked this out yet so haven't told her either) so its all from home. We have a laptop and that is nearly always used in a main room i.e. not bedrooms.

Ive got s giffgaff monthly contract so we don't pay much for it really.