3. If you put it off until as late as possible, then by the time they get one, they’re so desperate to catch up with peers on social media that they’ll often ignore everything else they can do with it. All the bad, addictive stuff with the horrifying downsides we’ve come to associate with phones+kids, none of the “bicycle for the mind” stuff. Ours, obviously I hope, doesn’t have any social media. Their favorite apps, and I’m not even kidding here, are Calculator, Weather, Maps, and Camera.
@glyph Can your little one read? I was thinking that I'd get my kids phones as soon as they can actually use them for texting and when they can read stuff like contact names, etc.
Of course, as a free range style parent, it was basically never in doubt that I'd be giving my kids phones young, since I want them to be independent and the cell phone is probably the most powerful tool for providing autonomy and safety (to anyone) that exists in the modern world.
@pganssle not quite. iPad games have been instrumental in getting them as far on the road there, though. There’s a bunch of content out there in i(Pad)OS land for pre-literate kids.