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An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

nytimes.com

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Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#41

Post by etrautmann »

hijackedt wrote: post #36

I have begrudgingly gotten our kids apple watches for exactly reasons outlined I am in some latent way, however, concerned with the idea of them wearing a cellular radio directly on their skin all day - I have for the most part avoided any of the EMF/4G/5G handwaving but would love an informed opinion from HN if there is any reason for concern / need to moderate or otherwise?

Don't worry. Theory and experimental evidence both suggest there's no issue with those frequency bands. Those wavelengths can only cause heating, and that's at many orders of magnitude higher power than something used in a watch.

at 2.4 GHz, the wavelength is ~12.5 cm, which isn't going to do anything to anything protein-scale in your body.

Clinical evidence hasn't shown any association between negative health effects and EMF in that spectrum.

The preponderance of conspiracy theory around 5G says more about psychology than physiology.

Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#42

Post by michelb »

rswerve wrote: post #29

This has worked really well for us. My kids are 11 and 9 and we started with Gizmo watches a couple of years ago, and got them Apple Watches this year (one hand-me-down, one SE). Their friends are starting to get phones, and we're a hard no on phones for kids, but this way they can keep in touch with us and their friends without a phone. The effect on independence has been interesting. They seem to feel more reassure…

Can you recommend a rugged case?

Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#44

Post by runjake »

vagrantJin wrote: post #25
altacc wrote: post #11

This is a great idea, because I'll be able to snag a free Apple watch ;) I regularly have phone watches left at our house by my children's friends and if you walk through the school after hours you'll occasionally find one lying on the floor (in amongst all the discarded clothes). They're too big for active children to want to keep on all day. I can see why this would benefit some people, if their children have long…

> their children have long solo commutes, The same people who'd want to track their kid's every move with an absurdly expensive watch can also turn around and let that same kid commute solo? My brains turnng to mush.

Your view of it is too simple and skewed.

We want to be able to track their every move, not do it constantly.

And by the way, they can track our every move, too, thanks to Family Sharing and that's how we (well, I) like it.

Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#45

Post by MrJagil »

I have replaced my iphone with an Apple watch and I am a professional in my thirties. If i carry a phone i check it constantly. The watch is great for me, and now I hate having to carry a phone (i.e. if i need a certain app, camera, travel or something) and I'd recommend it to most people.

The worst part is when i get a call, i have to decline it, put on my airpods, open the podcast app to make sure my watch is connected to my airpods, and then call back. If I pick up the call immediately i either have to ask them to wait while i put on airpods and sometimes the call is stuck on watch speakers (which is less than ideal, but can be ok) because blue tooth suck. this might sound nightmarish, and it sorta is, but, that is how far I'm willing to go to avoid the internet when I'm out and about.

I own an iPhone SE, it just sits at home in the charger, forwarding calls to my watch. My watches battery goes out late afternoon, where i get home and can charge it. I have replaced my computer with an iPad pro where i answer all my messages.

Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#47

Post by runjake »

thenerdhead wrote: post #17

Does this not jeopardize giving kids their autonomy? Feels like the parents saying yes to this may also be in the life360 or obsessively tracking their kids camp. Great for peace of mind, not great for building independence in my opinion.

There's a bunch of comments like this and I don't understand.

The ability to track your kids at any time != "we're constantly tracking our kids". If this is a real concern for you, I think the real problem isn't the technology -- it's you.

Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#48

Post by thenerdhead »

runjake wrote: post #47
thenerdhead wrote: post #17

Does this not jeopardize giving kids their autonomy? Feels like the parents saying yes to this may also be in the life360 or obsessively tracking their kids camp. Great for peace of mind, not great for building independence in my opinion.

There's a bunch of comments like this and I don't understand. The ability to track your kids at any time != "we're constantly tracking our kids". If this is a real concern for you, I think the real problem isn't the technology -- it's you.

> If this is a real concern for you, I think the real problem isn't the technology -- it's you.

Maybe you're right. I think always-connected wearable technology can hurt autonomy.

On one extreme, a strict parent could use this to obsessively track their kid, notify them when they should be home, and use their logged history for whatever reason. Maybe a kid dreads wearing the thing because of their parents.

On another extreme, a lax parent could not give a damn about their kid and just wants the peace of mind that they could if they wanted. Maybe a kid doesn't mind wearing it.

The introduction of wearable technology here adds similar challenges that smartphones do:

Do kids behave differently if they know they can be A) accessible at anytime B) located at anytime C) history logged at all times?

Does that cause them to make different decisions than they would otherwise with no technology? That is what I mean by losing autonomy at the cost of parental/kid peace of mind.

Trust between your kids is most important, but technology is a factor here too.

Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#49

Post by Ancapistani »

A 5-year-old is a bit young, but I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea.

You really can’t do much with just the watch. It gives a way for the patent to track them, and a way to communicate in both emergency and non-emergency situations.

They’re rather expensive and fragile for that purpose, but they’re often on sale through cellular providers as part of a bundle. That’s how my 14-year-old got hers. It’s the $300 version, and was free after rebate when I bought mine, as long as I pay the $5/month for the service. That’s cheaper than a basic GPS tracker, which is what she was asking for. I’m not totally comfortable with her being tracked, but it was her idea; I made sure she knew how to turn it off and made sure we were clear that she wouldn’t be in trouble or even under suspicion if she did. She usually keeps the GPS function off unless she’s at an event or something. That feels like a good compromise.

If nothing else, its high relative value could help teach a younger child responsibility. That’s very dependent on the child, though.

Re: An Apple Watch for Your 5-Year-Old? More Parents Say Yes

#50

Post by gnicholas »

MrJagil wrote: post #45

I have replaced my iphone with an Apple watch and I am a professional in my thirties. If i carry a phone i check it constantly. The watch is great for me, and now I hate having to carry a phone (i.e. if i need a certain app, camera, travel or something) and I'd recommend it to most people. The worst part is when i get a call, i have to decline it, put on my airpods, open the podcast app to make sure my watch is conne…

I have thought about trying to do this, but the part about the battery dying in the late afternoon sounds pretty terrible. If the battery lasted 75-100% longer, I might give it a try.

I also don't love the idea of yet another monthly fee.

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