My 13 year old has a phone. Most of the apps are blocked. Messages is open, and we tweak based on expectations how much he has access per day, and when. Right now it's 8:30pm to 9pm (so after sports and homework).
He can call and text me and my wife anytime of the day. Thankfully the school bans phone usage, so it's not a lot.
A handful of his friends have no phone. Most have, and all apps are accessible (not sure how parents configure age restricted content/apps).
It's a lot of work to limit and tweak and even his 1 minute a day on Safari (because I couldn't find a way to cut to 0) allowed him to create a TikTok and Instagram account (on web). I am a technologist... and gee my 13 year is a genius when trying to find ways to circumvent the restrictions. Every other week I have to change some minor thing in Settings. But my point is that it's a LOT of work... I can see why some people either completely ban or allow. But to me it's worth. Messages is open because I believe he needs to talk with his friends, but fuck Tiktok and Instagram and Youtube.
I’ve been told from some folks who work on child safety features and are passionate about the space that the features are often ignored by parents anyways :/
That may be part of the reason for difficulty of configuration. You might be in a small cohort of people actually using them. That cohort should be larger.
He can call and text me and my wife anytime of the day. Thankfully the school bans phone usage, so it's not a lot.
A handful of his friends have no phone. Most have, and all apps are accessible (not sure how parents configure age restricted content/apps).
It's a lot of work to limit and tweak and even his 1 minute a day on Safari (because I couldn't find a way to cut to 0) allowed him to create a TikTok and Instagram account (on web). I am a technologist... and gee my 13 year is a genius when trying to find ways to circumvent the restrictions. Every other week I have to change some minor thing in Settings. But my point is that it's a LOT of work... I can see why some people either completely ban or allow. But to me it's worth. Messages is open because I believe he needs to talk with his friends, but fuck Tiktok and Instagram and Youtube.