When DS got a phone, she stopped reading books. She used to love reading, now her freaking phone is always in her hand like an extra appendage.
That’s been the biggest thing here as well. I’m not sure if it’s the phone or school though. She was still reading for fun last year in 6th grade. This year she’s not but she’s also had to read Charles Dickens, HG Wells, and Frankenstein for ELA. Those books ruined reading for me awhile, too.
Does your family put your phones away after a certain hour? You may find reading comes back when the electronics aren't an option.
Sourcing MS books is tough, though, particularly for the most advanced readers. They're capable of understanding adult text, but don't need some very adult topics, lol. Do they have librarians or media specialists at school? We love ours, but had to go to the public library after 6th grade to get most of the books they were recommending. It's tough times for school librarians in FL, though, they have to be very cautious.
That’s been the biggest thing here as well. I’m not sure if it’s the phone or school though. She was still reading for fun last year in 6th grade. This year she’s not but she’s also had to read Charles Dickens, HG Wells, and Frankenstein for ELA. Those books ruined reading for me awhile, too.
Does your family put your phones away after a certain hour? You may find reading comes back when the electronics aren't an option.
Sourcing MS books is tough, though, particularly for the most advanced readers. They're capable of understanding adult text, but don't need some very adult topics, lol. Do they have librarians or media specialists at school? We love ours, but had to go to the public library after 6th grade to get most of the books they were recommending. It's tough times for school librarians in FL, though, they have to be very cautious.
Well that is definitely the other thing. She read a ton of YA dystopian fiction last year and now really can’t find anything that interests her. She picked up a Freida McFadden book yesterday and said that sounded interesting so she wants something more thriller and adult like. She also has read a lot of Poe this year and likes that. I told her to wait on the Freida book but may change my mind. We do have great librarians but yes we are in TX so they are afraid to even breathe wrong for good reason.
But yes we all charge our phones in the kitchen overnight! She does keep her phone until 9:30ish though and is passed out by 10.
We decided to try a super locked down phone once she turned 13. We switched to T-Mobile with a new customer deal that got us 3 new phones and removed cellular from her watch. We gave it to her during her birthday week but it wasn't a "gift" and she knows our safety rules and that we can take it away if needed. She was extremely happy as you might guess. She pretty much can only text, talk, use the camera, read books on Libby, and use some other utilitarian apps like ruler, compass, calculator, maps, weather etc. I removed Safari and the App Store. I did tell her she could get a couple of games to play on the bus but we never decided on which ones and then school ended last week.
FYI we discovered that some T-Mobile apps go around the Google Parental Controls ... sort of. The T-Mobile apps can download other apps, but kids can't launch them. IDK about iPhones.
Google Doodles also seem to avoid the parental controls, and he plays Snake or Minesweeper sometimes, but I'm okay with that ... most of the time.