What you need to know before giving your kid a phone, plus the Wirecutter-tested trackers, smartwatches, and phones to consider.
Additional Reading:
- The Best First Phones for Kids
- The Best Smartwatches for Kids
- The Best Parental Control Apps to Manage Screen Time (and Keep Your Kid Safer Online)
- Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World by Dr. Devorah Heitner
- Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World by Dr. Devorah Heitner
Products we recommend:
- Apple AirTag
- Tile Mate
- Bark Phone
- Pinwheel
- Apple iPhone SE (3rd generation, 128 GB)
- Verizon Gizmo Watch 3
- Apple Watch SE GPS + Cellular
Check out more NYT podcast coverage about the recent push to ban phones in schools from The Daily and Hard Fork.
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Find edited transcripts for each episode at nytimes.com/wirecutter.
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