Comments on: My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy

By: My iKid–Who Previously iJacked My iPhone–Also iJacked My iPad (Now, With Extra Help From His Little iBrother) | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:59:05 +0000

[...] As I wrote then: [...]

By: jay frick

jay frick — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:02:01 +0000

As your kid is 7 I would NOT take the advice of most other people and buy him an iTouch. I am 17 and I could barely keep the scratches off of it, eventually just giving up all together. Imagine how a kid who is 14 would take care of it. I actually can say that I know what would happen (neighbors kid). She lost it, and when they finally did find it, the screen was FUBAR. I cannot say I know your son, but as a kid I can say that we are not responsible enough to have them. Mine still works, but the back is so messed up that it makes me nauseous just looking at it. I was so upset when it got all messed up from being in my empty pocket… Not to mention my parents reaction, until they realized I bought it myself ^_^ So please, unless you have the money to throw around, don’t get him an iTouch

By: Christine Wynne

Christine Wynne — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:08:11 +0000

Two words for you: password protection. I put a password on my iPhone set to set off after 5 minutes of inactivity because my teenage son would grab the phone for the games, texting,
Facebook, MySpace, etc and would be difficult to get off. Your children are being set up for serious game addiction in their teen years unless you set clear limits now. My son’s addiction to games (like World of Warcraft) led to thousands of dollars being spent on my “borrowed” credit card on virtual gold and characters, lost days at school as he snuck onto computer late at night, and poor physical health, all despite our best efforts at parental controls, passwords, trashing his DS and gameboys, all of which he found a way around. It was all a losing battle- the games started out fun and entertaining in elementary school, turned into nightmare in junior high and high school. Now he has no cellphone, computer or game access as we had to put him in a therapeutic wilderness boarding school. In suburban high schools, one half the boys that drop out do so because of addiction to video/computer/iphone games. (or so the counselors tell me). He will have to wait until he is 18 to get an iPod touch, iPhone, xBox, or even an internet access computer at this point. And he will pay for it himself.

By: And I Thought My Kid Was an iPhonatic–See This Video and Be Scared, Be Very Scared | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:43:38 +0000

[...] “My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy,” I wrote about the Apple (AAPL) smartphone’s strange hold over him: “But now he wants to [...]

By: francine hardaway

francine hardaway — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:46:26 +0000

Has Scoble ever told you about Milan? Last week when I was at his house, Milan took my iPhone. He’s about two. Maryam then told me to watch out, because he knows how to rearrange and delete apps! This reminds me of my grandchild, now 10, who used to play with my Palm Pilot when he was a toddler. If you asked him who I was, he would answer “Palm Pilot.”

By: Ed Guy

Ed Guy — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:40:30 +0000

This article resonates with my household! While my peers kept razzing me about these silly apps on my iphone, we were amazed at how well some of them showed the technology. I finally broke down and bought both kids (13 and 10) iPod Touches; Our 13 year old girl uses it as a traditional ipod and our 10 year old boy now has 9 pages of apps.

His favorite is Truphone* because, in his words, “It’s like having a cell phone when you’re not old enough to have one.” We combined Truphone’s service with ipkall to give him inbound and outbound calling as well as voicemail to email. I also had to get him a headset with a microphone (like the iPhone one) so that his voice could be heard. The apple store has a few choices. His requests for a cell phone have *almost* gone away.

Now, I just need to get WiFi in the car to keep them all happy.

(*Disclosure: I work for SCN, Ltd, the company that provides the Truphone service.)

By: My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy [BoomTown] | techclack.com

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:31:16 +0000

[...] Continued here: My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy [BoomTown] [...]

By: Karen Flowers

Karen Flowers — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:56:28 +0000

That should be expected, iPhones are designed to attract seven year olds.

By: My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy - All Things Digital | Find Laptop Pcs

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:21:52 +0000

[...] My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy – All Things DigitalBoomTown is not proud of the problem. Not at all. But, after hearing the same situation described over and over again from many other parents like me, I am also not alone. As it turns out our almost-seven-year-old son, Louie, has morphed into an [...]

By: ross richardson

ross richardson — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:10:15 +0000

Kara … two words for you: “iPod touch.”

I was having the same problem with my 11- and 8-year-olds. The incessant chant: “Dad, can I play on the iPhone?” (Think: “Dad, are we there yet?” following you around the house.)

The follow up: “But you’re not using it!”

I bought them both iPod touches for Christmas. They now have iPhones without the AT&T monthly anchor.

Problem solved. Actually it solved more than that.

Do I need to buy $30 games for their Nintendo DI’s, which they master and discard in a few weeks? Never more – they find plenty to download from the iTunes store for free. If they want a song or a movie or a $3 game, it’s my turn to ask a question: “Have you used up the iTunes gift card you got from so-and-so?” Videos? I’m off the hook when it comes to ongoing expenses.

Do yourself a favor, suck up the $229 and get a touch. Oh, and definitely buy a case. The touch’s sleek case can be hard for a kid to handle, as evidenced by the fact we lost one to a toilet. Apple doesn’t cover that, but they do give 50% off a replacement, which I find extremely generous and something no other company I know would do.

By: My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy Video

My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy Video — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:49:44 +0000

[...] iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy Collected by allthingsd 00 mins ago from kara.allthingsd.com // Event.onDOMReady(function() { // sizeText($(‘video_title’), 475); // }) collect this [...]