Should kids have smartphones?

[AFK]

Unfettered access to digital entertainment and the internet is a bad idea for young children.  Many parenting experts will tell you internet usage should be monitored.  Much like it is a good idea to always know where your kids are going IRL, it is also a good idea to know where they are in cyberspace.  Otherwise you are inviting trouble.

Moving the goalposts, any? 

Nope, the OP's age range starts at 10, which is still grade school age, ergo, young child.  Obfuscation fail.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

But you aren't arguing with the OP, you are arguing with people who have specified the ages at which they, personally, think kids are OK to have smartphones. Myself, as an individual, said that it depends on the child, and gave specific examples of what I meant. Alty, I believe, mentioned 15-year-olds.

So now you are trying to shift our stated opinions to fit your argument, which just doesn't work.

[Ben Shapiro]

C'mon, there is a reason that it is generally considered rude to be on your smartphone when you are, say, out on a date or hanging out with friends.  Because it is a distraction, the person isn't completely present because part of their thoughts are focused on whatever texts, FB posts, etc they are monitoring on their phone.  At a crucial time in development, when kids are still learning the importance of communication, smartphones will tend to be distractions.

Teaching your children appropriate manners is part of basic parenting, regardless of what the technological landscape looks like.

Zing me Nigel zing me.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh my god, I'm arguing with RWHN again! How do I keep letting this happen? Never mind. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

C'mon, there is a reason that it is generally considered rude to be on your smartphone when you are, say, out on a date or hanging out with friends.  Because it is a distraction, the person isn't completely present because part of their thoughts are focused on whatever texts, FB posts, etc they are monitoring on their phone.  At a crucial time in development, when kids are still learning the importance of communication, smartphones will tend to be distractions.

Teaching your children appropriate manners is part of basic parenting, regardless of what the technological landscape looks like.

Zing me Nigel zing me.

[Demolition Squid]

Oh my god, I'm arguing with RWHN again! How do I keep letting this happen? Never mind. 

He does seem to be a moderately effective troll. He's no Miley, of course, but who is?

[AFK]

Oh my god, I'm arguing with RWHN again! How do I keep letting this happen? Never mind. 

He does seem to be a moderately effective troll. He's no Miley, of course, but who is?

Who the fuck would want to be?  Another reason to not give kids smartphones.  The might accidentally one of her awful songs. 

[Cainad (dec.)]

A different question:

The kids already have the smartphones, so how do we intelligently and maturely cope with this new development in a way that doesn't result in estranged, frustrated parents and dismissive, alienated children?

Ah, now here's the real question.

This technology has the potential to influence people towards acting like poopyheads, so we must restrict it.

We need to find ways to reduce the potential for poopyhead behavior, and we must adapt to cope with poopyheads so that they have the least negative impact on society.

^ this is literally the conundrum of every single socially significant technological development since the fucking printing press

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

A different question:

The kids already have the smartphones, so how do we intelligently and maturely cope with this new development in a way that doesn't result in estranged, frustrated parents and dismissive, alienated children?

Ah, now here's the real question.

This technology has the potential to influence people towards acting like poopyheads, so we must restrict it.

We need to find ways to reduce the potential for poopyhead behavior, and we must adapt to cope with poopyheads so that they have the least negative impact on society.

^ this is literally the conundrum of every single socially significant technological development since the fucking printing press

Yep. And the future is going to happen no matter how much we kick and scream and warn everyone about the danger, so the question becomes how we can make it the best future possible.

[Dildo Argentino]

I wanted to see where that romantization of boredom I see in some people comes from.

If it's some kind of euphemism for time management problems, as described by RWHN, then I understand it better. Obviously, if your kid really wants a smartphone and you can provide one you should at least think about other ways of dealing with time management that don't involve depriving your kids of something that is very useful.

I don't see how noting that boredom, once a near-universal experience, is today avoided altogether by technological means practically from birth (getting kids under a year old hooked on TV is easily accomplished), and then wondering what effect recurring experiences of boredom (or at least lack of readily available intellectual/emotional stimulation of practically any kind) had on personalities that were exposed to them and how personalities not so exposed may differ is romanticization.

As Eric Berne noted (several decades ago, actually), most people find unstructured free time one of the hardest things to deal with. But at least, back then, it only really became a problem after hours or even days. Today, it seems for many the amount of unstructured free time they can stand is a few minutes. I can't help but wonder whether that's altogether a good thing. I don't have a very definite opinion, so I asked.

[Dildo Argentino]

Children are basically treated like possessions under the law.

Yes. Despite the fact that in theory, we've had this for quite a while:

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/child.asp

[Dildo Argentino]

Books are a vile technology that is turning people into introverts. Horrible, horrible.

Books and me... we worked together and I did actually become a bit of an introvert for a good few years....

You are right, though, it wasn't the books' fault.

I think, on the other hand, it is also a valid question how the mental makeup of literates differ from illiterates, no? I heard, for instance, that illiterates on average have much better memory for a great deal of detail. I would imagine that they probably use all their senses in a somewhat different manner - I stand ready to be corrected, though!

[Dildo Argentino]

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.

I repeat my estimation (based not only on this thread, actually): plain stupid.

[Don Coyote]

Books are a vile technology that is turning people into introverts. Horrible, horrible.

Books and me... we worked together and I did actually become a bit of an introvert for a good few years....

You are right, though, it wasn't the books' fault.

I think, on the other hand, it is also a valid question how the mental makeup of literates differ from illiterates, no? I heard, for instance, that illiterates on average have much better memory for a great deal of detail. I would imagine that they probably use all their senses in a somewhat different manner - I stand ready to be corrected, though!

The flipside to that is, why should one expend the energy to rote memorize the increasingly more complex and detailed workings of particular subjects when all that needs to be memorized is how and where to acquire the particular knowledge that is needed when it is needed?

[Dildo Argentino]

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.

I say we ban all children from training courses first.

Just ban training courses, actually. (Definition of 'training course': hours of enforced boredom)

If those kids were there because they wanted to be, and if that trainer was worth his salt, they'd be forgetting their phones in a matter of seconds.