As parents, we all have a great responsibility to guide our young people on the right path to becoming well-rounded adults and productive members of society. Ensuring they are eating a balanced diet, sending them to the right school and engaging them in extracurricular activities that promote a healthy body and mind is crucial.
When my daughter was born about 13 years ago, I never thought that choosing her technology platform would become one of those potential life-changing decisions.
Separate time for phone
In those halcyon days 13 years ago, the smartphone platforms we know today were like my newborn daughter in her childhood. The first snapshots from a few minutes after his birth were taken in a shiny new one IPhone 3GS. It was about a year ago that the software was called “iOS” and just a year after the Apple App Store was unveiled.
The idea of platform lock-in was not a thing in those days. Of course, I was accustomed to my iPhone, but if you suddenly snatched it from my hand and instead gave me an HTC Incredible, I wouldn’t have lost too much sleep for it. FaceTime and iMessage did not yet exist, and iCloud was still called MobileMe. There were about 100,000 apps in the App Store, most of which fall into the category of stupid innovations like iBeer.
Fast forward to 2022, and as I realize that my daughter has entered those awkward years between 12 and 20, my decision to buy her a smartphone will have a lasting impact in a way that has never happened before. Let’s face it, as much as both Apple and Google want to make changing teams easier, both platforms have enough “glue” that can discourage people from moving to the other side. Some of these issues are technical, such as investing in apps or more expanded hardware and software ecosystems, others are completely social.
Ecology is your choice
Nowadays, a person’s choice of smartphone influences their other hardware and software decisions probably more than any other single factor.
IPhone owners are more likely to gravitate to one side MacBook, HomePod Mini, even an Apple TV set-top box. Apple makes it easy for iPhone users to store photos, contacts, and calendars on iCloud, and when it comes to messaging, Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime tools work seamlessly. Similarly, those who use Android handsets will feel more comfortable in the warm embrace of Google services like Gmail, Drive, Photos and more.
After that, kids won’t have much time to start searching and downloading the latest apps for their new smartphones. Fortunately, games and apps are much more platform-agnostic. As long as your device is task up, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing Jenshin effect The same is true for an iPhone or an Android smartphone, and the same for social networks. The experience may be slightly different on Android and iOS, but the basic functionality remains the same.
But the problem with the app still exists. Although Google offers most of its apps on the iPhone, those tools are as native to most Android phones as for iCloud iPhones, which makes for a much better experience. You won’t find any way to access services like iCloud Photos or iMessages on Android handsets. It’s hard to know which direction to take, especially when it could affect many technology purchases in the future.
Peer pressure
This brings you to the next point when dealing with kids and smartphones. Although parents should say the final, the platform of your children’s choice will be strongly indicated by what all their friends are using. There was a time when all the cool kids would go The BlackBerry device, and it was particularly notable in Toronto, which was the centerpiece of the BlackBerry country in the ’00s.
Many parents naturally hand over their old BlackBerrys to their kids, who quickly communicate with the platform’s built-in instant messaging service BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). For a time, BlackBerry was the perfect device for texting teens, and those who weren’t lucky were expelled.
Today, the same thing is happening with the green bubble phenomenon. Kids with iPhones can use iMessage with its beautiful blue bubbles Those with an Android handset or feature phone are limited to communicating with the rest of the group via SMS. Whenever a message is sent to them they risk becoming social pariyah for the green bubbles.
As The Wall Street Journal As mentioned earlier this year, “Teenagers are afraid of green bubbles.” According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), more than 70% of U.S. consumers are iPhone users between the ages of 18 and 24, suggesting that at least many are starting with Apple’s platform in their teens. The journal reports that “social pressure is evident” among teenagers and college students. Some of those interviewed even said they were “expelled or isolated after moving away from the iPhone.”
Yes, there are options like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat. My daughter likes to chat with most of her friends on Instagram, everywhere, since they seem to chat the most. But if all of your kids’ friends are iPhone users, chances are you’ll want to. What’s unusual is that it doesn’t seem to be as applicable to the other side. It probably helps that there isn’t a single Android brand, but Google doesn’t offer to lock the same social world into people. My daughter’s Android-toting friends aren’t using Google Hangouts or Google Meet so much, and even if they were, those apps are available for the iPhone.
Family harmony
Depending on how much you are willing to give your teenagers in choosing their first smartphone, what the rest of the family uses will also be a factor. Both Apple and Google offer family-centric features, ranging from shared subscriptions to parental control features. Apple’s screen time. These work best when everyone in the family is on the same platform. For example, since I use an iPhone, I can easily monitor my daughter’s iPhone usage from my device and even allow the purchase of apps and in-app content with Face ID. If I buy him an Android smartphone, it will be very difficult to do.
Whatever platform I choose for her 13th birthday she will use for the rest of her life
He can also share family Apple One subscriptions (although he can’t really think less about Apple Music since none of his friends use it) and many other in-app subscriptions, apps and media content I’ve already purchased are also available for him.
There’s a downside to that, though. She only has access to these as long as she is in my family. Someday, when he leaves home, he will have to repurchase and subscribe to whatever he wants for himself.
However, by then he will be immersed in the platform I have chosen for him for almost 10 years. This is a big responsibility because at that time he is unlikely to switch to anything else, which means a good chance that whatever I choose for his 13th birthday will be the platform he will use for the rest of his life.
The call of the garden surrounded by apple walls
Like most things in parenting, the decision eventually brought my daughter into our family. Since our family has already entered Apple ecosystem, my daughter will follow along.
Very useful for dropping features like screen time and the ability to quickly approve in-app purchases. It would also be foolish to repurchase apps and subscriptions already available on an iPhone through family sharing. There are also many more subtle things, such as including him in the HomeKit home automation routine so that I don’t keep him in the dark when I walk out the door and be able to easily share things with him via AirDrop.
Fortunately, my daughter has no strong choices; Until he finishes everything can be used to text and play with his friends Jenshin effectShe will be happy. For now, at least. Things can change down the road, and young adults often blame their parents for a lot from their childhood. I can expect a few years from now that the choice of smartphone platform for my daughter will not be one of them.
Editors’ recommendations
