this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
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Technology

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[–] etherphon@piefed.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Agree, my child only uses dial up internet, I find that they don't have the patience for the page loading times and forget about streaming. /s

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 10 hours ago

Dial-up would take several minutes just to load the framework of a modern webpage.

[–] higgsboson@dubvee.org 39 points 2 days ago (1 children)

lol. Or grow a pair and tell your kids "No" once in a while.

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

This.

My wife and I have 5 kids. The two eldest have phones (Pinwheel phones), and we also have a Switch and some tablets. When asked about playing on devices, we have told them more than a few times to go play with toys or to just go outside (weather permitting). Sometimes a tantrum happens, at which point they lose all device privileges for a certain amount of time until they shape up.

[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

No, I always pulled out.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 20 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Who is this person and why should we care about their opinions on this? Not intending this in a mean way, just if theyre like a behaviour scientist It would change how I read the article.

Artificially restricting your child from having a phone only makes them less prepared for the world. Think of all the kids who grew up without a computer and now they have no idea how they work and can't do basic tasks.

The middleground is a phone locked down with parental controls.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Think of all the kids who grew up without a computer and now they have no idea how they work and can't do basic tasks.

Hi there. Didn't have a computer until the 12th grade.

In the 30 years I've been working with Linux professionally, some of it was at a distro, working to secure it, and also Unix. I've managed an ungodly number of computer hosts, and I took over and maintained a somewhat well-known security tool I'm not gonna name. Lately I do automation: mgmtConfig when I can, Ansible if they pay me so much I can forget just how amazingly bad it is.

I was getting paid for Linux work long before I got a cell phone.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Uh ok mate thanks for your life story. Did computers even exist when you were in the 12th grade?

I fail to see how this is at all relevant to kids in the modern age being kept away from technology. Not having technology access today is completely different to 30 years ago.

Even if we pretend your experience is related id say you were a statical outlier. Most people who are not shown how to use technology will not become adept at using it. Thats why we try and introduce kids to a wide range of things in schooling.

The kids with technology are creating things earlier and earlier, recently a 16 year old made a game that took the record from fortnite for most concurrent players 21million. Growing up with access to technology opens them to an entire world of inspiration and I think if its managed by parents its a powerful tool that I'd never want my kids missing.

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I think their experience is very relevant. It illustrates perfectly that kids don't need to be immersed in technology from a young age to become proficient at it later in life, if it's beneficial to them.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 1 points 3 hours ago

Its anecdotal at best. Its like if someone was saying "we should give kids school lunch so they preform better at school" and then I replied "I didnt have school lunch and I got top my class" you'd think ok that changes nothing.

There is a lot of research to support the idea that adults are less likely to pick up a skill if they weren't exposed to it as a kid. If you dont grow up working with technology to make things you're less likely to go down that route as an adult or late teen. Thats a huge disadvantage in today's age.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 26 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

That kid is gonna get bullied in school.

Source: I was that kid, I didn't have a phone for most of High School (which was around the time when smartphones became popular), so I didn't get into groupchats so I basically had no friends for most of highschool. Fun times 🫠

(I mean this "no-smartphone" thing has to be a collective thing across society, you can't expect this to work if only one parents does this.)

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

yeah, at the very least a collective thing in a classroom

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I never gave any of my adult daughters cell phones and I don't plan on giving them to my daughters in grade school either.

Hard pass on my daughters getting dick pics and hanging with the popular kids

When they are old enough to get a job and earn enough to buy one that will be fine with me.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Your just shit parent. I gave all my teen sons Smartphones and at the same time parented my kids and kept track of what they were doing with them. I still pay for 2 of my kids phones. I love it I can track where they are at, and call and text them when I need to. Dumb take "they can pay for them" bet you still be all up in arms of what did on there even if they paid for them. You are going turn you daughters in to unknowlegable and vurable women who will have hard time later in life. All on you trying protect them. Just fucking educate them on the dangers. World scary place deal with it and make sure they are prepared for it.

[–] AstralPath@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I love how on the internet all it takes for someone to call someone a shit parent is a mild difference of opinion.

It's just 0 -> 100 at the drop of a hat. Its fucking hilarious to me.

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 2 points 5 hours ago

And the person calling someone else a shit parent uses it for surveillance.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago

Lol, your kids got all fucked up and you don't even know it. Generation mentally fucked with by tech bros, but you watched them so it is okay!? Stupid as fuck.

I have met some dumb fuckers in my life, but you take the cake. How many dick pics did they send, nevermind you didn't even know they did.

My daughters are not tech literate, they used to help me build computers. They can install operating systems while all your kids know how to do is swipe.

Do you like how I jumped to a bunch of bullshit conclusions that I have no clue about?

You raise your kids and I will raise mine.

[–] thejml@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I miss POTS. Copper landlines are a thing of the past. Now it’s just VoIP with a battery that doesn’t last long enough and another bill. (And place for scam/telemarketers/junk calls)

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 1 points 5 hours ago

Yes, this is frustrating. You lose power and there's no way to communicate.

[–] PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In some areas you can no longer get a landline. I was discussing this with someone who lives rural and the phone company will not serve any of the addresses outside of towns.

That's strange to me as I still have a POTS line and have never been without one through my different abodes. I will say that only a few calls come in on it, but I use it for outbound calls quite often. Almost all of the spam calls come in on the cellphone now.

I remember reading about the last hand-crank phone being removed (As an aside, my memory had this happening 20 years ago. Lol, it was 35!):

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/13/Remote-Idaho-town-retires-last-crank-call/3557647841600/

"Smith said with hand-cranked telephones, 'sometimes the connection cracks up and you only hear every third word.'"

Hey, just like my cell service!

[–] thejml@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Last I heard, all the providers in the US are in the “we’re not actively canceling them, but we won’t roll out new ones or fix problems.

Yes, that seems to be the case. If you do cancel and move, the new owners won’t get a landline. The carrier in this particular area has also contracted out any rural service work.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago

POTS isn't quite dead in the UK, but it's very much on the way out. The transition is slated to be complete by the end of January 2027.