• 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

      • 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.

      • 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.