My kids were not allowed phones and the only computer was the one that is in the open plan dining and lounge room. The computer that I use and was able to check the history and i new what apps had been down loaded to it.

Wow some of these are just disgusting! Who would have ever thought it’d be even okay to come up with an app such as ‘Burn Book’.

Be smart. Only give your kids basic mobile phones until they are old enough to act responsibly. A primary school boy I know was given a prepaid one for emergencies only. It is programmed to work for only for a few numbers that are programmed into it. At school they have to hand them in and collect them from the office at the end of the day. (They are signed in and out like you do for a child in childcare). Handy if the parents are running late to pick them up from school too.

My son mostly uses Snapchat now as a way for me not to keep up with him. I do follow him on Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, but have noticed he mostly uses Snapchat directly to his friends which disappear quickly, rather than his stories which I can see for 24 hours. Our kids are so much smarter on these apps than we give them credit for and it’s really hard to keep up. And a word of warning that I adhere to, if you think your child’s not on many of these apps, they actually are.

Great article! Thank you for sharing this.

If kids used their phones/tablets etc less and read more there would be less illiteracy in Australia for a start.
Bullying would be less without these apps too. Parents need to step up and start taking responsibility for their kids. I was bullied as a young teen and my mother was proactive in stopping it. Kids are so wrapped in cotton wool these days that when something nasty is said to them they immediately think they need to do something drastic to stop it. It’s devastating to hear the amount of suicides in young people because they haven’t been taught to stand up for themselves or understand that standing strong and ignoring comments made by their peers.
Get rid of excessive apps and technology usage and get kids connecting with each other again!

The calculator app is a sneaky one!

My daughter (nearly 14yr) is on Instagram and Facebook, I am myself as well.

No apps for my daughter. She has a smart phone but she’s not interested in it. She just uses it for sms and, very rarely, phone calls.

It’s so overwhelming trying to keep up with every new app. Such a different world to when I was growing up. (sigh)