Tweens and technology

I'm not sure about anyone else but the massive amount of technology available to our kids these days is mind blowing. My oldest goes to middle school, seventh grade (now that I feel old) and she has a cell phone. Now when I was twelve cell phones weren't a thing, our internet made that horrible sound and I had to get off the internet when my mom wanted to use the phone ...

So what's the opinion on technology use and when to start it? I was fifteen when I got a phone and that's when you had to hit the letter "P" four times to get the letter you wanted and there was zero internet on it! Do teens really need cell phones? If you ask my kid she would probably die without it. As I'm writing this my tween is texting me about how she got a seat at the front of the bus this afternoon LOL! So here are some pros and cons of technology use in tweens! Let me know what you think and your opinions on when to start your littles on technology!

Pros:

1. Constant contact. So my oldest goes to middle school and it does give me a sense of relief to know that if something were to happen she'd have a line of contact to myself or my husband immediately. She walks home by herself every day after school and it's good to know where she is and what she's doing and just have that contact with her.

2. It's a bargaining tool. Seriously, threaten to take your kid's phone away and see how all of a sudden they know where their chore chart is and how to complete all of them! It's catastrophic when you threaten to take a phone or iPad or whatever it is they have. 

3. Easy tracking. This is pretty cool especially with the phones being so private. There's a tracking device on Brianna's phone that monitors everything she does down to google searches and how much time she's spending on the electronics. This is great because it gives them the freedom of the phone but also monitors to make sure nothing shady is going down. Becuase at the end of the day, people are psycho and do crappy things to kids so being able to monitor is great. I didn't have that when I was a kid but I'm thinking maybe I should have!

4. Technology is the real deal now. This is where our society is come to and I fully believe kids need to be introduced to it young. I had to sign papers at Brianna's school for her to use her Ipad and cell phone and download apps. They use google drive at school. Literally, everything is online so kids really do need to get a grip on it early enough so they don't' fall behind in school. It's just the reality.

5.It teaches responsibility. We're at a point where if we give you an electronic and you break it, tough shit. Guess you better save up your allowance. Kids are now given more responsibility in these electronics to keep them from breaking, dropping in water, getting lost or stolen. It teaches them to take care of things and once they're gone, they're gone. So stepping up and being a responsible kid is definitely being taught daily.

Cons:

1. Scary scary world. Need I say more? Technology these days has brought so much freedom to kids and unfortunately, a lot are not monitored. These apps like snap chat or music.ly or god knows what else allow predators to monitor your children and stalk them. Snap chat even lets you tag your location in it! People can run with all kinds of information and that needs to be a huge point to parents when buying their children these devices.

2. Overweight kids. Can we just be honest and say this is a legit problem? Kids are far more likely nowadays to grab their phone and veg out on the couch after school and do absolutely nothing. This is terrible! we had no other options as kids other than to do our homework and go play outside! This in turn is making our children overweight and teaching them nothing. I don't even care if they're educational games, if it's nice outside then GO OUTSIDE.

3. Increased cheating at school. Honestly, I'm not a kid anymore but I could see this being an issue. It makes sense as to why kids can't have cell phones during class. Minus the distractions, it's easy access to internet and information. You need to learn and not by cheating with a cell phone. Look at your friends test like the old days!

Ultimately this is the generation that just had a butt load of electronics at their finger tips. It's in schools, it's at home, it's everywhere. Cell phones can be very useful for kids and they do have some decent pros. I fully believe with good monitoring kids can have electronics and succeed in life as long as there's rules and boundaries regarding these electronics. What are your thoughts on cell phones and electronics with your kiddos?