Deyvid Palepale getting balled back to Michigan

its hard to monitor too... i didnt even want him to have a phone, but at risk of being a pariah, in my wife's eyes, before starting middle school this year, we got him one... but the phones are so locked down that "monitoring" content and conversations is nearly impossible. Also, the feed of info/videos/posts is so universal now, banning watching youtube video shorts doesnt do anything (my god what a giant waste of time) ---- because they can watch in in every stupid app.

Hate that they have so much information at their fingertips, and they seem to know less and less.

My daughter was super savvy from very young, and we kept her off of everything. That didn't stop her setting up an Instagram account for three of the most popular girls in her seventh grade one day after they harassed her all afternoon to do it for them. Within an hour, they were being followed by a group of Swedish sailors. You can imagine the weekend we had with those little girls' annoying parents. . .

Don't mean to dampen your hopes, but don't assume he'll start caring more about video games than girls any time soon.

But I think it's smart to keep your kid off social media until they're able to understand consequences.  We were able to keep our kids off at least that long, so nothing incriminating there (as far as we know, the eldest got a job so seems good).

My kids cannot have them out in school - but they can take them there. For the most part, they cannot use them though nobody watches them at their lockers. My son puts it away for the day, but he knows he'll lose it if the school catches him.

My son's school allows him to have cellphones but he has to turn it off during class. Works well when he has to text me about something instead of going to admin office to call me. It is also useful when has to contact me after one of the clubs he goes to so I can go pick him up. It has its uses.

I am a very protective dad. I had to give that up and instead resort to educating him. I had to face ups and downs with him but it is better than being completely shutout of his life I guess.

Thats not a realistic take anymore (& I'm likely older than you).

Families are hyper scheduled with a myriad of after school activities & sports.
Almost impossible to coordinate without at least end-of-day / change of plan communication.

That being said, my 12 year olds have no phones or so-med at the moment but it is very tough to manage.

user name checks out.