When would you let your child own a phone?

[UncleLim]

Simple features (dumb phone) with no surfing capabilities. Top-up card. Mobile phones are almost as essential as electricity these days.

[cherrygal]

DS’ pri school does not allow mobile phones. So there’s no need for us to buy him one. I just put 10cent coins in his pencil case. Guess I will only buy when he reaches upper pri or secondary school.

[Ksbird]

Gotten my girl (10) this year… cos my mom gotten a stroke, and we needed her to fetch her brother just in case we are late running around (hospital, work…etc)


We wrote to the class teacher explaining the situation, and my girl understand that she can only turn on her phone after school, outside school compound to check her sms if we are late to fetch her brother.

Thus, it’s on the need reason.

[Ksbird]

yes, disable her 3G, and only allow sms and phone with quota (50sms and 80min call time) Cheapest deal. Also, warn her if she max her quota and she will need to pay her extra and if continue to overshot twice in a row, will suspend her phone and terminate the contract.

[SBKS]

I see…thanks all for the replies. so its based on need basis.


what about peer influences or peer pressure? when their friends have better phones or phones with games and 3G while theirs are dumb phones and not smart phones.

do they come back telling you that they want to change their phone or upgrade their phone? how you reject them? or if they said there are some features on the smartphone that can benefit them, will you change the phone?

[lim]

thanks for the inputs. my girl is going pri 4 next year. she has been asking for a phone. I seriously dunno when i shd give her a phone. Was thinking to pass her my iphone3. guess it is a bad idea. need to look for a dummy phone n top up card… but still deciding if i shd give it to her at all.

[smurfymum]

i think maybe it’s more of what age to start exposing them to all these gadgets.


it feels like even if they do not own their own gadgets nowadays, they are already over exposed to it that they have to have it.

like my kids’ classmate, keeps asking for "iphone" during the class which is very disruptive and distracting to my kids and other classmates.

if he does not get it he starts wailing and if he has it he plays with it and ignores whatever is being taught.

i guess corrective education towards gadget obsession should start from our level of strictness in the level of exposure we allow them.

[meiah]

My ds got his when he was in p5. A very basic phone. It’s for calling home if he has to stay back in sch and such. Now he is S1. He has an iphone too but he does not bring that to sch. He prefers to take his basic phone to sch as he finds that his friends generally grab and borrow whatever iphones they can get to play games.

[seekingangels]

i think nt to expose them to gadgets that early will be better. setting aside the influence issue, there is still the electromagnetic wave issue. definitely bad to expose them to such harmful waves at their tender age. besides when they grow older, im sure they will seek out these gadgets on their own.

[seekingangels]

if they do not have, its a matter of comparison between having and not having with their friends. if they do have it will be a competition to see who has the newest gadget. is it really fine to introduce the concept of materialism to them so young?I dont think so…