It's an extreme example but it does open your eyes as to how our kids have been caught up in a world we don't understand and it's a horrific place.
Election 2024
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Nah it's perfect as I was trying to explain how it's not only a fear of grooming etc but just general toxicity so it helps make my point perfectly.
You're right that the whole being different thing is a bollocks argument too. If other people want to poison their kids from a young age that's up to them init but it doesn't mean I have to as well.
Like I said I genuinely find the idea of it terrifying. It's remarkable how as a society we've become so aware of dangers out in the real world but so ignorant of them in the virtual world.
I think you can still get mobile phones that just do phone calls and texts plus calculator etc but cant connect to the Internet
Just been listening to Mark Carney speaking to the media, he certainly knows how to handle them and takes no ****. Looks like Canada have themselves a good leader there who will not bow to Trump nonsense.
Your call mate - but a couple of things to consider, if you haven't already:
We let our daughters have them when they moved up and it worked really well for us, particularly re doing after school activities (sports / dance etc) and also because they soon started going round to their mates houses doing homework or just hanging ... bit embarrassing if your mum / dad or both always picks you up / meets you - quick call sorts that.
The other main consideration was that just about every other kid already had one, or got one ... the initial settling in at senior school can be tough ... kids can be right little ****s at that age and we didn't want ours to be easier targets for the piss takers, or worse, during the first couple of terms.
Just some food for thought, mate.
We mentioned the exclusion thing earlier in the conversation, it's a relevant argument but at some point we have to make tough decisions with the way the world is going, for every sensible kid using the phone as it should be it seems there are many more getting themselves into trouble on there.
I think it was @Big Ern who said too little too late in regards Australia putting a ban in place and he's right for past generations but maybe not for future generations, we need a change imo and a tough time from your peers is better than the current situation we are putting our kids into by giving them a phone.
First point. It's not only smart phones which can make phonecalls. As I said he's already got a standard Nokia as he walks home from school on his own.
Second point I addressed earlier in the fred too, it's a poor reason to put my child in danger as far as I'm concerned.
We very much made the decision of not wanting them to be different so gave in but we didn't realise what a terrible decision that was. Since then it all changed and it probably affected my now 18 year old more than the others who are 22 & 26 if I could go back we would not give in now that I have a better understanding of how dangerous it is.
The Adolescence TV show has blown it wide open and yes it's just a drama but it was conceived by Stephen Graham seeing reports of young boys stabbing girls and being blown away that this was so common. A little research later and this drama is created that has got the country talking. There's one scene where the investigating police officers son pulls him aside and has to explain that he's not understanding what he's reading online and that there's a whole language that he's not aware of.
I think a huge amount has changed in the last 5-10 years too in terms of the algorithms and how society is as a whole.
I work in schools. Mobile phones are the cause of most behavioural issues and none of them are positive. The sooner phones are banned in schools nationwide the better. Dig your heels in and don't get them a smartphone.
"everyone else has got one" is the worst justifying decision a parent can make.
I don't think that last line was such a bad way of thinking years ago but it certainly is now.
I'd be surprised if his French wasn't fluent; to get any government job in Canada, you have to be bilingual, even cops and junior civil servants. His accent might be awful though, I suppose, like the English gendarme in 'Ello 'ello.
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He spoke in French yesterday, and seemed ok, didn't sound robotic. His flow was changing from English to French and back to English again with ease.