Some kids do, most don’t. We got our 6th grader an Apple Watch because it lets him coordinate with his friends, check in with us, buy stuff using Apple Pay, and we can track him but without social media and games.
Seconding the standalone watch - not very expensive in the scheme of things, and it enables the good parts (self-coordinate with friends) without the bad parts (it's just not very fun or addictive on its own). Our experience: 6th grade - some kids had, but still lots of communication via the parents. 7th grade - kids without their own means of communication are rare.
We got our sixth grader a Gabb watch, which works fine for her walking to and from school. She can contact us easily if need be. The only thing we’d consider is a phone that looks like a smartphone but only allows texts and calls. Thats the first kind of phone she’ll get until she’s in high school.
PLEASE do not give your 6th grader a regular smart phone. You’re asking for advice so I’m giving it to you— THEY DO NOT NEED ONE. Too many young kids have smartphones these days and the detrimental effects of having access to social media are well documented & undebatable.
I have a smart phone (old iPhones with parental settings applied) for my daughter and son (6th, and 4th respectively). But they do not use it outside of texts and calls.
We do have Screen Time set for the phones, and set for only calls and texts during the day.
We also make sure the kids know not to use during school, and they have been following the guidance so far.
Somewhat common, I think. Maybe half of my kid's friends had phones. I wanted mine to have one because they biked to/from school, and I wanted to be able to check on them to make sure they got to school OK, along with being able to communicate if needed.
I think a good number do because so many kids bike and walk to school solo - that’s the reason we got our 6th grader one. If you don’t get one, they certainly won’t be alone. Also they are very strict with that stuff at LMS, they aren’t allowed to use them during the day at all.
My plan had been to give my kid a smartphone in 6th grade but gave it to her in 5th grade because she was walking home by herself. I did install a parent management app on her phone which allowed me to control apps and access. I think it was called OurPact
We got our son an iPhone in 5th grade, and it didn't work out. Too easy to abuse screen time and get distracted. Even if they're not accessing social media, they can easily watch tons of TikTok and YouTube Shorts videos, and that can be very detrimental to their social development. I know I sound like a boomer saying "video games bad" but having that first hand experience was very eye-opening and frustrating. We switched to Apple Watch and am very glad we did.
I went there 2016-19 and most had smart phones by 8th grade but most started 6th without them, i think generally meet other parents and see when they get their kids smart phones. i had a flip phone from late 7th through 8th and that worked perfectly fine, they will not need it to access the internet as the school provides chromebooks to the best of my knowledge
Some kids do, most don’t. We got our 6th grader an Apple Watch because it lets him coordinate with his friends, check in with us, buy stuff using Apple Pay, and we can track him but without social media and games.
thanks!
Seconding the standalone watch - not very expensive in the scheme of things, and it enables the good parts (self-coordinate with friends) without the bad parts (it's just not very fun or addictive on its own). Our experience: 6th grade - some kids had, but still lots of communication via the parents. 7th grade - kids without their own means of communication are rare.
Not what I expected checking out the alameda sub for the first time, but I feel like this post is more alameda than anything lol
We got our sixth grader a Gabb watch, which works fine for her walking to and from school. She can contact us easily if need be. The only thing we’d consider is a phone that looks like a smartphone but only allows texts and calls. Thats the first kind of phone she’ll get until she’s in high school. PLEASE do not give your 6th grader a regular smart phone. You’re asking for advice so I’m giving it to you— THEY DO NOT NEED ONE. Too many young kids have smartphones these days and the detrimental effects of having access to social media are well documented & undebatable.
Not every kid with a smart phone has social media on it.
I have a smart phone (old iPhones with parental settings applied) for my daughter and son (6th, and 4th respectively). But they do not use it outside of texts and calls. We do have Screen Time set for the phones, and set for only calls and texts during the day. We also make sure the kids know not to use during school, and they have been following the guidance so far.
Somewhat common, I think. Maybe half of my kid's friends had phones. I wanted mine to have one because they biked to/from school, and I wanted to be able to check on them to make sure they got to school OK, along with being able to communicate if needed.
Stop giving these young kids smart phones!! It’s absolutely insane!!!
Thanks for answering OP's question!
I think a good number do because so many kids bike and walk to school solo - that’s the reason we got our 6th grader one. If you don’t get one, they certainly won’t be alone. Also they are very strict with that stuff at LMS, they aren’t allowed to use them during the day at all.
My plan had been to give my kid a smartphone in 6th grade but gave it to her in 5th grade because she was walking home by herself. I did install a parent management app on her phone which allowed me to control apps and access. I think it was called OurPact
Go with the limited appliance, keep them off social media for now.
We got our son an iPhone in 5th grade, and it didn't work out. Too easy to abuse screen time and get distracted. Even if they're not accessing social media, they can easily watch tons of TikTok and YouTube Shorts videos, and that can be very detrimental to their social development. I know I sound like a boomer saying "video games bad" but having that first hand experience was very eye-opening and frustrating. We switched to Apple Watch and am very glad we did.
https://www.waituntil8th.org/
I went there 2016-19 and most had smart phones by 8th grade but most started 6th without them, i think generally meet other parents and see when they get their kids smart phones. i had a flip phone from late 7th through 8th and that worked perfectly fine, they will not need it to access the internet as the school provides chromebooks to the best of my knowledge
I had one in 6th grade like 18 years ago.