How old is too old to look through your kid’s phone?

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The other thread had me thinking about this. At what age should the parents stop looking through the kid’s phone?

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Hey Mrs Diddly!

Your moronic son started another thread here.

PS: Stop begging, I’ll catch up with you later.

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You paying the bill?

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This. But hopefully my parenting has taught them to not be idiots in life so when they get to be 18 (even if I am still paying for it) they won't give me a reason to look through it.

Exactly what FightingTigers said... As long as you're paying the bill. Grown people privacy comes with grown people responsibility.

probably when the leave for college

After 18, you don't want to go there. You might find things that change the way you look at them for the rest of their lives.

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Don't think they can't get their own contract until 18.

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I had to pay for 1/2 of my phone bill from 14-16 and all of it after that.

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Don't think they can't get their own contract until 18.

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I'm in my 30s and still on my parents' family plan.

Financially, there's no good reason to start your own solo phone contract. Typically phone companies give you more of a discount when you have more phones on a plan. Just pay the folks your portion of the bill

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I would say never unless you legitimately fear for their safety. Privacy and trust goes both ways. Kids need to be allowed to get away with some stuff and learn to deal with things and manage it themselves. Jusy my .02. My parents never looked through my phone and I think I ended up pretty well adjusted. I also naturally did not act out a ton.

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I really think it depends on the age. If you are 14 or younger, there is some stuff that kids just don’t need to see or know about because it can affect them.

But once kids are in highschool, there’s nothing they don’t know about. I had a friend who went to a private high school that took everyone’s phones at the start of the day. He moved to a public highschool his junior year and failed some classes because he looked at his phones all day.

When kids don’t have any privileges/privacy, they are going to abuse them once they leave their parents’ home. I think slowly giving them responsibility is important.