A flip phone for starting middle school: am I too strict?
Editors' DilemmaOctober 28, 2026· Be the first to vote
A story made up by our editors to get the debate going, not a real account.
My side
My son is starting sixth grade. He’s been begging for a smartphone for months, because “everybody has one.” I get that he needs to call me after school, especially since he takes the bus alone. So I bought him a flip phone: calls, texts, a battery that lasts a week, and a Snake game he ended up loving. The smartphone will come in eighth grade, we’ll talk about it then. He cried two nights in a row, saying he’d be “the only one with a grandpa phone.” His dad thinks I’m cutting him off from the class group chat, where everything gets planned.
Their side
My son explains that invitations, forgotten homework and jokes all go through the class group chat. Without a smartphone, he hears the news the next day, and he feels a bit left out. His dad adds that a smartphone with strict parental controls and time limits would be a good compromise, rather than a device that makes him stand out from day one.
So, who's wrong?
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