@vincentritter I got my kids phones at a pretty young age. Wifi only at first. Then they wanted to play Pokemon go so they got mobile data. Then their friends started getting phones so they were allowed messaging apps. Then social media. It's been a slow build to being full smartphone users over several years, but they both still say that when they're parents they won't let their kids have phones until they're a bit older. Not necessarily because of the effect it has had on them (which I think has been minimal thanks to my guidance and restrictions), but because of the way they see some of their peers and younger kids act.

@vincentritter if you haven’t checked it out yet, Disney came out with a device/service for just this thing called Circle. (Meetcircle.com) that allows you to set limits on the device, etc. it’s now apparently part of Aura, but worth a look.

@vincentritter The joys of having older children. We also needed to intervene with our daughter's messaging. I'm glad that she came and asked for help.

@vincentritter that's probably smart...

@vincentritter Hardest part of modern parenting I find... We've had our issues and have talked about them and encouraged everyone to be open, but we police the devices hard. Permission requests for apps. Cyberbullying, photo sharing etc all scares the heck outta me.

We block with NextDNS as well (Such a good service).

I struggle with doomscrolling socials sometimes.... and I'm well into middle age! For kids... it must be crazy....

My kids find it hard to believe that there wasn't even an internet (of any consequence) when I was born.

@vincentritter lol yeah I don’t know that it is a Disney service anymore, but gives you far more control than even Screen Time does.