2013-01-02, 04:12 AM
MasPan Wrote:Am I the only one who disagrees with giving a 13 year old an iPhone in the first place?
This was my first thought. It's not that I'm opposed to the things an iPhone can do, just the idea of trusting a 13 year old with something that expensive. How many mowed lawns will it take to replace it?
My little brother (now 13 in fact) has an android phone which was free although the associated data plan was not. While our parents reserve the right to look through it, track it, view web history etc, they have yet to ever do so. He uses it to call/text his friends, occasionally Google something, and more than anything read books using the Nook app. If a teacher ever confiscated it during class, there would be hell to pay (my mother is a teacher). But taking it away during school hours is rather counterproductive. Part of the reason a child this age should have a phone is so a parent/child can contact the parent/child if they are running late, there has been a change of plans, or in case of emergency. If anything, you can automatically disable web usage during school hours so that the only danger is texting during class and teachers are pretty adept at noticing this.
Most of these rules I read as more good advice than anything. That said, I wouldn't accept these conditions for myself, but they seem rather reasonable for a 13 yr old who can be allowed a toy while being responsible.