NEED TO KNOW
- A woman says she and her partner don’t own smartphones — and she’s beginning to worry it could negatively impact her young children
- The woman shared her story on a popular community forum to get input and advice from other parents
- The majority of commenters told the poster that — for better or worse — smartphones are a necessary part of modern parenting
A woman is worried that her kids might “miss out” on opportunities because she doesn’t own a smartphone — and she’s asking others for advice.
The woman detailed her story on the “Am I Being Unreasonable?” forum on the U.K.-based community site Mumsnet, a place where women can go to get input from other parents. In her post, the woman said that neither she nor her partner owns a smartphone.
“It’s just never something I’ve needed or wanted enough to be worth the expense,” she explained, adding, “We have basic mobile phones for calls and texts, and a house admin computer on the kitchen table for everything else. This works for us.”
However, the original poster (OP) went on to say that she has children in elementary school, and that she and her husband “recognize life is very different for young people now.”
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“I wonder if we’ve unintentionally become the equivalent of the family without a TV in the ’80s,” she wrote, before adding, “I don’t want my kids to miss out on anything worthwhile.”
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The OP said that so far, her lack of a smartphone has only affected a few things here and there, like “not [being] able to join things like WhatsApp groups” — but she’s starting to wonder if her kids might get left behind.
“Could us not having them limit their opportunities? Anyone else in a similar position?” she asked at the end of her post.
The majority of commenters said that — for better or worse — smartphones have become a critical part of their parenting due to the fact that schools often use apps and WhatsApp chains to communicate important information.
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“Everything my [children’s] schools do are on apps,” said one person. “You can probably do them through a PC browser, but paying for a school trip takes seconds on my phone. In terms of clubs, army cadet activities now have to be booked via the app, dance and drama updates are on Facebook, and my [child’s] other drama group is on WhatsApp […] Life without a mobile [phone] sounds unnecessarily hard.”
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Another person said, “You may think a standard brick phone may be okay, but often homework is via an app. Travel tickets/bus passes are electronic. Transportation timetables are electronic and invaluable when trying to get to/from school [when] the train is canceled, or the bus is on [a detour]. All social events are organized via WhatsApp or other SM apps.”
The same person added, “Like it or not, the smartphone is part of modern living, and you are doing your [children] a disservice by not knowing how they operate or being in a position to help them navigate them properly at a young age.”
“Realistically, your [children] will grow up in a world where smartphones are the standard. While there are workarounds now, they will be increasingly less available as more and more of the population have never lived in a world without smartphones and internet. Part of preparing them for the world is making sure they have the tools,” said someone else.
