I decided to move away from big tech for my children and myself
As a parent (of a kid fortunately nowhere near this age) I get this, but I also don&#x27;t see a way out. You don&#x27;t want your kid to be <i>that kid</i> who doesn&#x27;t have a smartphone when all of their peers do. Being socially excluded was the bane of my life in school, and I&#x27;ll be damned if I&#x27;m going to be a contributing factor to my child becoming a pariah.<p>I do wish that more parents (and society in general) would be more sensible about a minimum age for smartphones; it just keeps creeping down. 10&#x2F;11&#x2F;12 would be somewhat manageable and it gives parents a chance to help guide their use.<p>And of course all the popular must have apps already have age limits they absolutely refuse to enforce. TikTok has 13 as the minimum age. WhatsApp (used by every Dutch teenager from 10 onwards) has a minimum age of 16 in the EU…