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Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

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71–80 of 268 posts

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#71
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the idea of tagging my kid with a tracker like they're a wild bird being tracked is repugnant

Just a suggestion, be more mindful when you make comments involving other people's kids. (which is generally a no-no unless you're invited to) On the internet is fine, but I've been to places around the world where a comment like that would result in black eyes, missing teeth, etc.

I'm very curious as to what places of the world that would be.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#72
post #42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, came to say this. Kids have learned to walk places on their own without maps or satnav or tracking for hundreds of thousands of years. I believe everyone would benefit from that continuing. We don't teach kids that the only way to do arithmetic is with a calculator... they learn first, then get a tool that can support what they already know. Why do we think we should do it differently here, and train this learne…

As I parent I am downvoting this because I am quite tired of others judging parents and their technology choices- particularly when it comes to restrictions. Parenting is hard. Parenting when everything is changing so quickly is very difficult.

Way I see it, most parents give their kids early access to phones just to keep them sedated and occupied. There is zero benefit for under 14yo to have unrestricted access to the smartphone or internet. It only benefits the parents.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#73
This is actually a really great feature for everyone else trying to reduce their phone use without switching to different "dumbphone". But why mandatory lock by passcode? I agree, that adding more friction would prevent user to switch back to standard UI, but still - it should be optional.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#74
post #19

His kid doesn't need a phone and doesn't need to be tracked to walk to school. Get over it.

The kid doesn't need it, but the parents need the kid to have it on him to appease the bored onlookers one digit away from calling the authorities.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#76
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started my kid at 12 with an extremely locked down iPhone. She fights the restrictions at every turn and I have to make sure that she understands that finding loopholes is fun but also if I catch her violating the spirit of the restrictions there will be consequences. So she proudly tells me about clever workarounds she finds but still puts the phone away at the appropriate times. It’s kind of fun that she’s develo…

That’s how we handle it with ours as well. He found a way around a certain control and we opened a bug report with the vendor and it was acknowledged and fixed. He then realized he locked out other kids with that and laughed and tries to find more worth reporting.

Is that black hat or white hat?

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#77
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a suggestion, be more mindful when you make comments involving other people's kids. (which is generally a no-no unless you're invited to) On the internet is fine, but I've been to places around the world where a comment like that would result in black eyes, missing teeth, etc.

I'm very curious as to what places of the world that would be.

Oh, it's a very long list. It could be anywhere actually, by "place" I didn't mean something like a specific city, but more of a place in a city where that situation would most likely unfold.

Anyway, I don't want to derail the conversation too much, this is a very interesting topic but it is off-topic.

If you want to keep talking about it send me an email! Info on my profile :).

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#78

While living in Japan, our kid used a cellphone with 3 buttons. 1. Call mom, 2. Call dad. 3. Call Auntie. These kid's phones were very common, inexpensive and worked great.

There is an entire ecosystem of kid's watches which do exactly that. Pretty much just a miniature cellphone with restricted functions that goes on the wrist like some sort of a tracking collar.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#79
post #4

>children have quickly found workarounds for such measures, such as asking friends to message them links, which can bypass restrictions when opened I was very surprised of this by my own kids find workarounds like l33t hackers. Apple's restrictions are a joke. The app store is full of things they can mess with. My daughter mentioned some way to get around screen time. I've ended up just taking the iPads away.

A friend was woken up by his young kid trying to surreptitiously lever his finger onto the TouchID sensor to pay for a game dlc.

LMAO incredible

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#80
post #69

I like the feature, but I don't like the assumption at the beginning. > Come September, he will have to walk across town to school on his own. But if he's going to be walking around out in the world without me, then a tracking tag won't cut it. He is far too young to have unfettered access to the internet and social media platforms, but what if he gets lost? A classic Nokia, supplying just texts and calls, won't come…

We had some friends over last form the US. One 11 yr kid in the group was bored and said: ok I’m gonna go home now, I need the keys please. He walked home by himself - maybe 500 meters… For us Europeans it was nothing to notice really, but the Americans were absolutely shocked.

I don’t think you can profile this as American. Are they conservative suburbanites? My kid walks to/from school longer than that. Many kids take public transit in big cities. Rural kids may ride a motorbike much further.
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