Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrtesthah | Hacker News Reader

The problem is the kid feeling left out at school when they're the only one without a smartphone and can't participate in their friends' activities.

View on HN

...and this needs to be solved with a law? Kids feeling left out over something well and truly inconsequentual?

Who needs laws! Let's also let them all smoke cigarettes too then while we're at it.

Lol you can order a cigar or pipe tobacco on the internet completely legally without any ID check. Most people don't know this. You can do it with wine, too, for the vast majority of the US. It's not really a problem.

I suspect you need a credit card though? Can kids sign credit card contracts without parent consent in the US?

Moreover just because that laws and regulations are applied inconsistently in the US (and we are talking about Denmark here), does not mean we should completely do away with them.

Not sure if it's changed but I had a debit card and bank account from age 15 when I started working as a kid. I got it without even involving my parents, not sure if you can still do that now, it was before the KYC stuff ramped up to the nines.

Not necessarily a law, but it requires some form of collective action.

I highly recommend discussing a smartphone pact such as http://waituntil8th.org with fellow parents before anyone in their friend group gets a cell phone.

> Find out why smartphones need to be delayed in your home (emphasis mine)

Do parents actually fall for this drivel?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com