Is My Child Ready For A Mobile Phone? Groups

[Hedonistic Blonde]

What age is acceptable for a kid to get a mobile phone?

Our eldest daughter is in year 4 and is 9 years old.

I think when she starts secondary school she can have one as she will be getting the bus or walking to school.

My other half reckons most of her class already own one so we should let her have one now.

 

[Beckie]

This has come up in the news today.

Ofcom: Almost a quarter of kids aged 5-7 have smartphones

The regulator calls the data a "wake up call", and says parents and industry need to do more.

www.bbc.co.uk

Nearly a quarter of UK five-to-seven-year-olds now have their own smartphone, Ofcom research suggests.

Social media use also rose in the age group over last year with nearly two in five using messaging service WhatsApp, despite its minimum age of 13.

What, and I can't stress this enough, the actual feck are "parents" doing letting kids as young as 5 on WhatsApp?!

My daughter (9) has a tablet where she can watch iPlayer or whatnot, but there's no way in hell I'd be letting her on social media FFS.

Kids on social media will only end badly.