499
‘It went nuts’: Thousands join UK parents calling for smartphone-free childhood
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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But how will they ever stop these children from just walking into a store and buying a £500 phone and signing their own service contracts ?
Who says you need a contract. You can just get and activate a prepaid SIM.
Who says you even need cellular service? It's just a different type of radio signal, VoIP has existed for years. If you even need a phone number. Every app under the sun has a calling feature now, but most people don't use phone for calling anymore. Wifi is everywhere so cell signal is not as critical these days.
True! I used Skype on a PSP to talk to friends before I had a cell phone. They could more easily use a phone only with wifi.
Wow I had no idea Skype was on PSP.
There even was a camera for PSP specifically.
As a child, I was just not given home wi-fi password, and the cell plan effectively had no internet (to be fair, parents were on the same call-and-sms only plans as well). I definitely did not want internet bad enough to wander around in search of public wi-fi.
why would a kid havy £500
A law saying phone companies can't open a contract for a kid without a parent present?
In most US states kids under 18 can't be held to a contract so nobody would give one to them anyway.
I think that's what doublejay1999 is talking about. Look out for the hidden /s.
:-o
Even then, they can go to a dollar store and buy a sim card for super cheap.