at what age should you buy ... for your kids or grandkids?

[Skaperen]

at what age should you buy desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, for your kids (or where appropriate, other young relatives)?

[SeijiSensei]

I gave my daughter a desktop computer when she was about ten or eleven. We'd used computers together, mostly to play games, starting around four or five.

[uRock]

My daughter had her first desktop when she was four. I installed Edubuntu on it. We gave her a phone in second grade. If I were buying anything for a niece or nephew, then it'd be a computer and it would be sometime before middle school when having a computer for homework is required.

[mastablasta]

the oldest one has a tablet it since he was about 3, of course the younger one shared it. they can both use my computer but the time on it is limited and they both understand it. also it is a reward to use it, so first they have to be good boys. the time limit is 1 hour/day and only during weekends and holidays. but grades have to be good, homework finished and and other activities they have to do (reading, school exercise...). so far it worked ok. they also get 10 EURr a month each to spend as they please. so far they do not want to spend it and are saving it to buy themselves a computer. well they would spend 1 EUR or 2 EUR occasionally. but this is rare. the oldest one is close to buying a PC. looks like laptop would be a good choice (so he can take it to a friend of my brother for a lan party), but he wants a gaming one, so he might need to do more saving for that.
during the week they are allowed to use the computer also for school activities. they have nice exercises that are like games (achievements, coins...). so the more exercise they do, the more in game stuff they can buy. i remember learning multiplication on spectrum like this. you had to perform calculations fast otherwise your horse would loose on track. worked quite well. the older one can read, so he is getting used to find things that interest him on wikipedia or how to guides and experiments on youtube. so they can use time during week for that. but since the PC is in linving room i always keep an eye on what they are doing.


with technology i don't think there is a set age. i think it is more important that parents are there with the child and that they explain things to them (media education). so cartoon are cartoon, don't believe everything on internet, flashing banners are flashing for a reason (malware?!?, strange deals?!), don't click random links (you can loose all your games and other data), always check the link, use script blocker...

[uRock]

+1 mastablasta, My kid used to play a lot of the learning games and I think it paid off. She's in all advanced classes in high school now and she has only had one "C" grade throughout her whole school life. Being I was studying for a network security degree, then a cyber-forensics degree, I shared a lot of info with the kid by showing her examples of how tech is used to victimize people and how to prevent it.

[Shibblet]

The day I see them treat hardware with respect. That can be at an early age, or it can never come.

• Ever have someone ask if they can use your laptop, and you watch them slam your keyboard with their eccentric one finger typing?
• Ever hand someone a controller to play NES Contra with, and you can hear the plastic squeak because they push the controller so hard, it's like they are using modeling clay?
• Ever watch someone smack their TV set, because the Blu-Ray player takes too long to load?
• Ever watch someone slam the lid to a laptop like they just threw a load of laundry in it?
• Ever watch people crank the volume up to max on their speakers, and you can hear the distortion?
• Ever see people toss CD's/DVD's all over the place, instead of putting them back in their cases?
• Ever open a CD case and find the wrong CD in it? Then you open the case of the CD that's in the wrong case, and it's not the one from the original case. Then you have to start opening all of the CD cases to find the CD you were actually looking for, one at a time based on the CD you found in the previous case, only to find a loop-back error after you get to the 19th case, and it's just flippin' empty?

Just saying...

[mastablasta]

• Ever open a CD case and find the wrong CD in it? Then you open the case of the CD that's in the wrong case, and it's not the one from the original case. Then you have to start opening all of the CD cases to find the CD you were actually looking for, one at a time based on the CD you found in the previous case, only to find a loop-back error after you get to the 19th case, and it's just flippin' empty?

LOL. You took the analytical approach to solving the problem.

[Shibblet]

LOL. You took the analytical approach to solving the problem.

LOL! Except I never found the original CD! Although... 18 others found their way back to their original case.

[TheFu]

18 yrs old, assuming they are going to college.
Otherwise, they can use the shared, "family", desktop, computer, in the den with limited internet access.

I wouldn't buy a tablet or phone for a non-adult. If they want one, they can buy it themselves and pay for any service. The wifi in the house has the same limited internet access and hours of use as the family PC.

Teaching independence was a priority in my family.

[uRock]

18 yrs old, assuming they are going to college.
Otherwise, they can use the shared, "family", desktop, computer, in the den with limited internet access.

I wouldn't buy a tablet or phone for a non-adult. If they want one, they can buy it themselves and pay for any service. The wifi in the house has the same limited internet access and hours of use as the family PC.

Teaching independence was a priority in my family.

You must live in a nicer area than I was raising my kid in. There was no home phone and our neighborhood was about as gang infested as it could get. If I wasn't willing to walk the neighborhood without a sidearm, then I definitely wasn't going to let my kid travel without the ability to call me or 911. We haven't had a home phone since 2002, so there'd still have to be a cell sitting at the house.