Should kids have smartphones?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

No matter what the topic, all you need to know is that everyone else is wrong, and that RWHN's opinion is the one that is opposite of everyone else's.

[AFK]

But also, smartphones are more often than not used as portable TeeVees or video games that happen to also be able to make phone calls.

Nonsense. In my experience with children, which is considerable, the preferred order of use is 1. to interact with friends, 2. to play games, and 3. to watch videos. Their innate preference is for more interactive over less interactive, but they will resort to less interactive options if the more interactive options are tapped out.

An aside; I am IRL friends with a number of people on this board. Your social isolation is not reflective of most people's experience, and you should refrain from projecting it onto them.

I also have considerable experience.  In my former job I organized and facilitated two day trainings for peer mentors.  There was a considerable difference in the level of interaction when phones were silenced and put away.  Electronics becom distractions and limit the ability to really focus and listen, instead of just hearing.

This medium is very limiting to human communication.  Facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, all VERY important in communication.

Part of growing up is learning when to silence and turn off electronic devices. That's not really even a question, nor is it what the conversation is about.

The tooic is whether or not kids should have smartphones.  It is an example of why, I believe, it isn't necessarily a great option.  It limits social interaction, encourages social blinders, and can also breed getting lost in the digital world at the expense of time in the real world.

[Don Coyote]

No matter what the topic, all you need to know is that everyone else is wrong, and that RWHN's opinion is the one that is opposite of everyone else's.

Well he is someone that thinks it ok to compare PTSD with the horror of being forced to endure anything related to Hannah Montana.


I mean we should be respecting his feelings. Obviously he has some kind of PTSD about smartphones as well.

[AFK]

No matter what the topic, all you need to know is that everyone else is wrong, and that RWHN's opinion is the one that is opposite of everyone else's.

That's a simple-minded way of looking at it, which is easy to pass off when you are conversing on the internet.  I suppose if we were face to face this is where you'd stick your fingers in your ears and say "not listening to you."

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I am not socially isolated at all.  I prefer face to face human interaction.

For someone who prefers face to face interaction, you spend an awful lot of time on a board where you are friends with exactly nobody. WTF is up with that? I spend very little time with people I am not friends with, unless I am tro...

Oh.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

But also, smartphones are more often than not used as portable TeeVees or video games that happen to also be able to make phone calls.

Nonsense. In my experience with children, which is considerable, the preferred order of use is 1. to interact with friends, 2. to play games, and 3. to watch videos. Their innate preference is for more interactive over less interactive, but they will resort to less interactive options if the more interactive options are tapped out.

An aside; I am IRL friends with a number of people on this board. Your social isolation is not reflective of most people's experience, and you should refrain from projecting it onto them.

I also have considerable experience.  In my former job I organized and facilitated two day trainings for peer mentors.  There was a considerable difference in the level of interaction when phones were silenced and put away.  Electronics becom distractions and limit the ability to really focus and listen, instead of just hearing.

This medium is very limiting to human communication.  Facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, all VERY important in communication.

Part of growing up is learning when to silence and turn off electronic devices. That's not really even a question, nor is it what the conversation is about.

The tooic is whether or not kids should have smartphones.  It is an example of why, I believe, it isn't necessarily a great option.  It limits social interaction, encourages social blinders, and can also breed getting lost in the digital world at the expense of time in the real world.

And, most critically, everyone who has observed the exact opposite of that is wrong. Parents of teenagers included.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I honestly am not sure you even recognize what you're actually saying to other people, or how insulting it is, much of the time.

[Don Coyote]

Totally disconnected from reality.

We got parents of children who grew up with the technology as it has expanded.

We got people who grew up before this shit was widespread and have to interact on a daily basis with the children who grew up with the technology as it has expanded.

We got the very same children doing shit in meat space.

Really all the weird outliers of people suffering for technology addictions are people of YOUR and my generations  RWHN.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

No matter what the topic, all you need to know is that everyone else is wrong, and that RWHN's opinion is the one that is opposite of everyone else's.

[Demolition Squid]

But Nigel, surely the fact that smartphones can be a distraction when on a fucking training course means that kids shouldn't have them in any other context either.

My smartphone would potentially distract me in that context too, if I didn't turn it off and put it away. BRB smashing it with a hammer.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Totally disconnected from reality.

We got parents of children who grew up with the technology as it has expanded.

We got people who grew up before this shit was widespread and have to interact on a daily basis with the children who grew up with the technology as it has expanded.

We got the very same children doing shit in meat space.

Really all the weird outliers of people suffering for technology addictions are people of YOUR and my generations  RWHN.

Well, what do people who have actually raised teenagers in the technology age know? We aren't policy-makers, we don't know what's best for us. We're just the public, and we need people who can think clearly and tell us what's right, like RWHN.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

But Nigel, surely the fact that smartphones can be a distraction when on a fucking training course means that kids shouldn't have them in any other context either.

My smartphone would potentially distract me in that context too, if I didn't turn it off and put it away. BRB smashing it with a hammer.

WE MUST ALL RETURN TO THE STONE AGE, EVERYTHING'S A DISTRACTION.

[Cain]

-

[Salty]

But also, smartphones are more often than not used as portable TeeVees or video games that happen to also be able to make phone calls.

Nonsense. In my experience with children, which is considerable, the preferred order of use is 1. to interact with friends, 2. to play games, and 3. to watch videos. Their innate preference is for more interactive over less interactive, but they will resort to less interactive options if the more interactive options are tapped out.

An aside; I am IRL friends with a number of people on this board. Your social isolation is not reflective of most people's experience, and you should refrain from projecting it onto them.

I also have considerable experience.  In my former job I organized and facilitated two day trainings for peer mentors.  There was a considerable difference in the level of interaction when phones were silenced and put away.  Electronics becom distractions and limit the ability to really focus and listen, instead of just hearing.

This medium is very limiting to human communication.  Facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, all VERY important in communication.

Part of growing up is learning when to silence and turn off electronic devices. That's not really even a question, nor is it what the conversation is about.

The tooic is whether or not kids should have smartphones.  It is an example of why, I believe, it isn't necessarily a great option.  It limits social interaction, encourages social blinders, and can also breed getting lost in the digital world at the expense of time in the real world.

Uh, so what are you basing that on? Personal observation, because I posted a personal observation that pretty much cancels your out. I saw kids being very social WITH their phones.