Texting Toddlers, How Young is Too Young? 286
theodp writes "Toddlers don't need to be texting, concedes the NYT's Lisa Belkin, but since they have always had toy typewriters and toy telephones, why not toy Blackberrys? If your little tyke is itching to text, the NYT has a round-up of texting devices aimed at children as young as three who want to talk with their thumbs. The question of, 'when is a child is old enough for their own cell phone' has been replaced with the question of, 'what type of texting gadget is appropriate for which age group.' But don't forget to lay down the law: 'Our 13-year-old got a phone with an unlimited plan as a reward for good grades,' says HiTechMommy.com blogger Cat Schwartz. 'Each night he is required to turn the phone in at 10 p.m. and then gets it back first thing in the morning.'"
Re:First, learn to spell and write properly. (Score:5, Informative)
Well that's just 'natural evolution' of the language. Language is not something that is fixed in stone for all etermity, rather, it is a continuously changing entity.
That's traditionally due to poor literacy rates and it's not a good thing. Linguistic drift is the reason much of the written works of the English language are opaque to most current English speakers. I want people in 300 years to be able to easily and intuitively understand my papers. I don't want them having to do a running translation of "too" to "2" and so forth.
Re:when they are old enough to be unsupervised (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, that's fantastic parenting."
Actually, it is great parenting...and it was the norm when I was growing up too. Heck, I was out all day during the days with my friends when I was a kid. We ALL were out and about playing every day. We built forts, built our first skateboards before buying them...built our own ramps at the end of the street. Later, we had a neighborhood pool we all went to. And yes, we were pretty much all unsupervised. When I was really young, like in 5th grade or so, I was to call in to home from a neighbors house every couple hours or so. No big deal, whoever's house was the closest...we went in and called a quick call.
My parents both worked...most of the kids in my neighborhood's parents both worked. But we were good kids, and had fun. sure, we got into some mischief...but nothing terribly harmful and no one got hurt.
And...amazingly enough, we all turned out ok...successful businessmen, lawyers, bankers...etc. And we didn't have a cell phone on any of us probably till we were ALL in our upper 20's or low 30's.
Re:Same as instant messaging (Score:3, Informative)
When I was in 5th grade... on AOL (back then it was v. 2.5, which only supported plain text - get off my lawn!)
Don't you mean "get off grandpa's lawn", son? I was 12 before I ever SAW a computer. [kuro5hin.org]
Re:First, learn to spell and write properly. (Score:3, Informative)
Nothing turns a kid off to reading and writing like a bunch of teachers who red mark all your work. While the person next to you gets a gold star. In kindergarden they usually just cover the alphabet and writing letters. The Invented Spelling at least gets them in the mind set that writing is a fun activity. Later on you can more quietly work on the issues and teach them the rules for spelling.
Great Story (Score:3, Informative)
This lead me to the Peek, which I hadn't looked at in some time. $20 for the device, and then $20/month. I picked one up for my 6 year old. There is a lot not to like, but I'll focus on why I got it:
Why the Peek?
* E-mail/text only (no phone, games, web, etc).
* Fairly durable device, good value.
* No long term contract.
What do I expect my 6yo to do with this?
* Communicate more frequently with those he loves in a non-intrusive way.
* Update his blog. You can argue that one. For my 6yo it has been a great thing.
What do I expect to get out of it?
* Teach responsible use of technology (what you post is sticky).
* Give him a fun opportunity to use his increasing language and reading skills.
* http://www.peekmaps.com/ [peekmaps.com] - just because I've learned to be paranoid.