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Comment by soligern | Hacker News Reader

I support this completely. I would go the extra step of not making internet capable phones accessible to under 14 year olds in general.

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The parental controls on Google devices are pretty darned good. I can't see their raw browser history, but I can see what apps are installed and how much they're used, control screen-time, bed-time, ban/grant app permissions on a per-app basis, etc. Blanket banning smartphones from kids is overkill when there are tools available to enforce responsible use.

Smart watches too. Big distraction problem in my son’s grade school and they are used on math tests.

The path my teachers took in school, a few decades ago, was to design math tests that never required a calculator. All problems used basic arithmetic and calculators would actively slow you down. This works for a large portion of elementary, middle school, and high school math. The only downside is the teacher needs to spend a bit more time crafting the problems.

As a former secondary math teacher, you'd be surprised how many kids can't do basic arithmetic without a calculator. This doesn't even just include kids with learning disabilities or those at the lower end of the grade spectrum. I had many students who couldn't multiply or divide when they got to me (let alone understand negative numbers or such) because of the over reliance on tech and calculators when they're younger.

I don't know about that one. You have some smart watches for kids. Which are basically a geolocator + phone home + panic button.

I have friends who's kids use those to go to school on their own. I feel that is a good compromise between parents anxiety and kids autonomy. Provided you make it clear to them that the watch enables you to track them.

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