[HN Gopher] Apple Watch for Your Kids
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       Apple Watch for Your Kids
        
       Author : antfarm
       Score  : 16 points
       Date   : 2026-06-08 21:34 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
        
       | heroicmailman wrote:
       | Honestly--I think this is a great marketing angle for Apple. (And
       | if they didn't want to risk cannibalizing iPhone sales they could
       | also spin it as an anti-phone addiction measure for adults as
       | well!) More and more I'm starting to feel comfortable leaving my
       | phone at home and using just my cellular Watch + AirPods when I'm
       | out and about.
        
       | pstuart wrote:
       | I don't know what kind of games you could fit on a watch
       | (Tamagotchi type things?), but getting kids to actually use
       | things requires them seeing some sort of direct reward.
       | 
       | We bought cheapo dumb phones for our kids and they'd never
       | remember to take them with them, but once we were _forced_ to get
       | them smart phones suddenly that was never a problem.
       | 
       | And by _forced_ I mean the endless wearing down of the whining
       | and crying and petulance because all their friends had
       | smartphones. Ugh, one of many occasions where I failed as a
       | parent.
        
       | xyzzy123 wrote:
       | Feels like an interesting trend where a "solution" for parent
       | anxiety (and to be fair, vastly increased societal expectations
       | around what "care" looks like) is proposed to be electronic
       | surveillance.
       | 
       | It's a kid tracker / ankle bracelet in an attractive form factor.
       | 
       | I was a kid in the 80s, city fringe, single parent who worked
       | until 5:30. Honestly nobody had any idea where me & my friends
       | were a lot of the time. Totally acceptable in that era.
       | 
       | The main worry I have about tech like this is, at what saturation
       | of deployment does the norm shift such that it's irresponsible
       | NOT to electronically track your kids whenever they leave the
       | house?
        
         | mox1 wrote:
         | Or its a phone alternative for younger kids that keeps an
         | actual phone out of their hands, allows for worry free
         | communication while they roam the streets and is backed by
         | arguably the most privacy focused of the big tech companies...
         | 
         | (disclosure: my 8 and 10 year old have them, works great for
         | everyone involved)
        
         | johncole wrote:
         | This is a fantastic option when the only other viable option is
         | to get them a phone. They can text parents, they can be
         | tracked, but they can't watch stupid YouTube or TikTok videos,
         | and they can't participate in 95% of the stuff that harms kids
         | at that age.
         | 
         | What's become the "irresponsible norm" is to not give your kids
         | a phone, which is crazy, because it's just giving tech
         | companies the ability to manipulate kids.
        
         | plandis wrote:
         | I'm not saying your conclusion is incorrect but the anecdote
         | provided is survivorship bias. My childhood was much the same
         | in the 90s.
         | 
         | There was a case recently where parents were charged with
         | felony involuntary manslaughter, and felony child neglect
         | because they let their 10 and 7 year cross the street
         | unsupervised and a car hit them and the 7 year old died. As a
         | parent if that's the reality I definitely hesitate to allow my
         | son out unsupervised when he's a bit older. I can't imagine
         | losing your son in an accident and then have the state come
         | down on you while you're still grieving.
         | 
         | https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/opinion/children-traffic-...
        
           | kridsdale1 wrote:
           | That happened because they were Black. (The state force, I
           | mean).
        
       | Teever wrote:
       | I'd like to see regulators deal with the bundling requirements
       | for devices. It would serve the greater good by preventing a
       | company the size of Apple from obligating that someone must buy
       | an iPhone to use an Apple Watch.
        
       | agnishom wrote:
       | The response to "Where's Erica?" should not be to put a tracking
       | wristband on Erica. Perhaps you won't know where Erica is.
       | Perhaps she is doing something dangerous. The oblivion and
       | ambiguity are part of what constitutes acknowledging Erica's
       | personhood.
        
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