re: Petition to "Wait Until 8th [grade]" to buy cell phones

My oldest was allowed to have a phone when she turned 12. The decision was made primarily because of after school activities and such, which made it necessary for her to contact us.

When she was 13, she was allowed to get an Instagram account, which we put a number of rules and restrictions on. In hindsight, this was not a good idea. She recently turned 14, and we've since shut down her Instagram account and internet access on her phone. She didn't get into any real trouble with it, but there are a lot of influences out in the social media world that were steering her in a direction that we are not comfortable with.

In talking with her pediatrician, she said she's seeing more and more of this and wishes parents wouldn't allow any kind of phone access beyond basic text/call to parents or social media until at least age 16. The teen brain isn't developed enough at an early age to allow for good judgement and the ability to rationalize or understand long term consequences of decisions. Rather, decisions are processed based on emotion. The connections between the emotional part of the brain and the decision making part of the brain are still being developed, and won't fully develop until around age 25. Remember all the dumb shite you did in high school and college that you look back on now and say "what was I thinking?" This is exactly why.

So yes, there's an actual developmental reason that teens really don't need to have access to the entire internet or social media. We as parents will re-evaluate the situation going forward, but we're in no hurry to give her (or her younger sister) access to either beyond what is necessary for school anytime soon.

As always, your mileage may vary.