When we are learning something for the first time, we inevitably make mistakes. In fact, making mistakes and learning from them is part of the learning process.
Pilots in training don’t jump into Boeing 747 to try out their landing skills! Nor do Olympic ski jumpers start on a 60 ft ski jump when they are first learning. Pilots start in simulators where there is nothing they can actually crash and burn with. Ski jumpers start on jumps just a few feet high and then practice on incrementally bigger and bigger jumps until they are ready for the big ones. So why in the world would we think it’s a good idea to give our kids a smart-phone with data and internet before they’ve been through practice and training on safer equipment beforehand!?! If you ask me, giving kids a smart-phone without practice and training is like asking them to jump into the deep end of a pool before they’ve had swim lessons! So why not start our children and teenagers out with the phone equivalent of a Honda Accord or beat up pick-up truck while they learn to responsibly drive their digital devices?
A terrific phone option to provide our children the opportunity to learn in a safer environment is the Gabb Phone. Gabb phones are designed with young people in mind. Talk, text, camera, and a few non-internet apps are the features available with Gabb phones. That’s it! These phones are not Ferrari’s! They are, however, good looking “Honda Accords” perfect for training up-and-coming young people how to effectively navigate the digital world.
Another great phone option . . .
The flip phone. . . Yes . . . the flip phone.
A simple, durable flip phone is the equivalent of a beat up pick-up truck. While our children (especially the teenagers) will complain about how un-cool a flip phone is, we can patiently explain that this is their training and practice vehicle of digital communication. We can have our youth prove their skills and responsibility with a phone that doesn’t have the high octane and risk factors that come with a handheld “Ferrari.”
I love knowing what the Gabb phones do, I have heard of them but didn’t know what they had and didn’t have, thank you, those look super useful. And the reason to use them is clear, even more clear after reading your post. I am the mother of older children, this approach would have saved a lot of grief for some of our children, if I would have had this idea earlier, thank you for sharing.