Do any of your Children have smart phones?

Catholic Living
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Do any of your children have smart phones?

  • Yes, my child is responsible
  • No, my child is responsible, because he/she does not have a smart phone
  • No, my child is not responsible enough to be unsupervised with a smart phone
  • Never, I don’t want to world parenting my children
  • No, only when they have a job to pay for their own
  • Depends on the child and their maturity level
  • Yes, how else would they ever be able to function in this world
  • Yes, because I would never hear the end of it
0 voters

If yes, how old is your youngest child with a smart phone?

  • 1 month - 4 years
  • 5 - 7
  • 8-10
  • 11-12
  • 13-14
  • 15-16
  • 17-18
  • My adult child is on my plan.
0 voters
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My Wife and I are not on the same page when it comes to this topic. Our sixteen year old does have an Android something, but she is not on social media. I would prefer her not have a cell phone at all, though she is very responsible, however, we have a six year old going on 16 and she is low-impulse control and very easily influenced by culture and her peers.

My youngest will not be getting a smart phone, which will cause arguments I’m sure, but by the time she is a teenager, children will be bagging to get chipped! My children will not be getting chipped.

Our friends have six children and every one of them has a smart phone and their attention span is almost non-existent. They are “bored” if they don’t have a screen in front of their face. It would be a good thing for them to give up for Lent.

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My Wife and I taught 5th grade CCD (this was a few years ago) and none of the kids had cell-phones (it was glorious). Then we taught 7th grade and it was hell. All, but two of the students had smart phones and they were more immature than our 5th graders were. Smart phones make you dumb in my opinion. The two girls in this class who did not have phones were the only two that I would trust with one (very much like my oldest daughter).

When my daughter was in Confirmation classes (during Covid) I would sit in listening to what they were discussing. There was a lot of emphasis on being responsible on social media or when texting with other girls/boys. You know, important topics that relate to most youth. My daughter had very little to add to the discussion, because she is not on social media. The teacher (good guy, personal trainer type) kept pushing my daughter to chime in. She tried to tell him, I do not know what you guys are talking about.

I think we would be doing our children a service by not letting them have smart phones and rather spend that money on classes that teach them what they are interested in (learning a second language, art, writing, a musical instrument, etc.)

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