• Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      Smartphones cost enough that a parent can control the finances and I don’t believe kids can aquire a large enough fund by themselve without at least some assistance by the parents.
      And if, usually as a gift and that is probably taken in by a parent anyway

        • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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          2 months ago

          And buying that requires knowledge of amazon, knowledge of what phone is useful, knowledge to avoid a scam or faulty product, an email address, a credit card, and a device to order from.

          Children are surprisingly clever and have all the time in the world, but they aren’t professional pen-testers and don’t have the experience needed to use online services before having access to them.

          It’s far more likely they get a hand-me-down device from a friend and keep it at school, especially if they know such a thing would be confiscated immediately upon discovery. Preventing this interaction would require control over the child’s life nearing Amish levels, or prison levels.

          • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            They sell these at Walmart, too. It really only requires a chance sighting of it and a couple weeks allowance for a young teen or kid to end up with one of these cheap smartphones.

            • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              See that’s more realistic. Sneaking off to walmart is still a bit of a stretch in sprawl-hell, but I can see how a cheap locally available phone might make it’s way into anyone’s hands, especially as a hand-me-down.

        • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 months ago

          On Amazon you either need to buy gift cards or have a working bank account/credit card.
          If your kid works around those road blocks you have more serious problems…
          And btw: Are they really usable?

          • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            They sell these same cheap phones at the store, and yeah, they work fine. I assume you live way out in the suburbs somewhere where it is unheard of that a young teen might end up at a store with dozens of dollars in their pocket, but I’m being realistic. You have to be vigilant about what your kids are up to.

            In many ways, I am more comfortable with my kid going to the store on their own than I am of them using TikTok, given what I know about TikTok.

    • padge@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      Phone maybe, but not a SIM card with data. Although you can do a lot without a SIM card if your school has public WiFi I guess