this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2025

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323

Parents turn to smartwatches for their children amid global phone screen-time pushback (www.straitstimes.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

142 comments fedilink hide all child comments

(page 3) 48 comments

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 3 weeks ago (20 children)

This has been so good for me and my kid. If they are out and feel like they need adult help, we are a watch tap away. If they want to come home early from a friend's house, send me a code and I'm there. If they want to go to their friend's house after school, I'm a text away.

We have a no phone until you're 13 rule so while the watch is a stripped down phone, it's not a phone so easy for us all to understand, plus it's already stripped down, no hassle no fuss.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

We do this, 2 timex family family connect watches, the older green ones off eBay. It's perfect and it opened up the privilege of walking home from school, walking to the park, and walking to friends houses as long as they keep it charged and check in. The newer ones look like an apple watch which I felt made them a theft target but the old ones have changed the family's life. Then, we can ask them to do chores when they get home from school, and if they do, they can ask us to unlock tablet.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Parents turn to smart watches? Not in my household! Not one more fucking non Linux piece of shit spying screen more.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

A modern day equivalent of "we don't own a tv"

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Can I interest you in an IBM WatchPad? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_WatchPad

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yes, sign me up.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They still make flip phones that aren’t “smart”

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes but kids are less likely to lose watches.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Also it's rare that a classroom would have a no watches rule.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Honestly I would love a watch for myself that would replace a smartphone but it would be even better for kids.

Garmin makes them and have a relatively good privacy policy and track record but it would be even better if we didn't need to trust them.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I stopped smoking cigarettes. I’ve moved on to cigars.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

I mean you say that as a joke but cigars you don’t usually inhale into your lungs. Like you’re still at risk of mouth cancer, but if you switched from Cigarettes to cigars, you wouldn’t suffer the myriad of negative health effects that comes with being a cigarette smoker which would objectively be a huge improvement.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I did that once.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Then the cancer set in

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I did the cigar thing for about a year. After that I went to a pack of cigarettes a month. About a year of that and I finally quit. I smoked for about fifteen years but I haven't smoked tobacco in over fifteen years.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Good job, that isn’t an easy task

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago

The image here is My First Fone. For Android it has terrible notifications. I'm constantly missing messages and calls from my kid.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I'm sure it works in theory but wearing that for however long sounds a bit much. Now, is it a good idea? That's a whole another can of worms.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Reasonable point, but people have worn watches all day for centuries. Just clean then and rotate wrists.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Something that big and heavy on a kid's arm is going to get uncomfortable after like ten minutes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

One watch, the Garmin Bounce, weights 37.2 g. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/714945#specs

Hardly heavy.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Children’s smartwatches are a stripped-down version of a typical smartwatch, and they allow parents to restrict app downloads, usage and calls from an approved list of contacts.

All of that you can do with a phone too. I do admit thought the argument of not losing it as easily since its on your arm makes sense.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Unless your kid, I don't know, takes it off for some reason and leaves it at school over the weekend. Hypothetical, of course. Hasn't happened to me once... or 4 times even.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

Difference is the school isn't going to confiscate my kid's watch (yet)

[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I think you're far less likely to spend a lot of screen time on a watch, hence the article

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

If you restrict the crap out of the phones so there is not much interesting to do for kids, it will have similar effects. E.g. they complain about YouTube on their kids phones, block it. Complain about games, don't let them install them.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago

I'm sure, but a watch is 1000% more convenient if you don't need any normal smart phone functionality (social media, games, internet access, media player, etc...). Its simpler to not have the option to use those features at all than to blacklist everything.

On top of that, it's less likely to get lost or dropped/damaged like a flip phone. Probably has better battery life too. For small form-factor messaging + GPS its the most functional package.

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Gotta make sure they have an ~~ankle monitor~~ smart watch!

[–] [email protected] 51 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

A smartwatch seems like an interesting way to keep in touch with your kid/keep track of them. I guess it could be abused like anything else though.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

My nephew has one and I kind of love getting random "have you seen cheetozard" messages from him.

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