[The Godfather]

We are already past the outrage for kids with cell phones. The cellphone corporations love it. Are we going to stand up to playground peer pressure and tell our offspring: you don't deserve a $500 device until you can pay for it yourself?
I know that the intention of the 3.0 feature is most likely for parents who use their iPhone as baby pacifiers. But the intention of the pre 3.0 parental controls were presented, by Steve himself, as aimed for youth-owned iPhones.
With 3G prices falling next month (that deflation predicted in 2008 was true in some things), we may see toddlers with iPhones within this decade.
YouTube - iPhone used by 1 year old baby
YouTube - I want an iPhone
YouTube - Two Year Old Figures Out iPhone Touchscreen

[imitchellg5]

I know parents who load game like Rolando and that type of thing onto their iPhones for long trips and whatnot. It's not that surprising.

[The Godfather]

So. In this case, if a parent decides to lend the iPhone to her child for 10 minutes, does she activate the restrictions for that specific period, or are the restrictions on until she wants to enjoy a little adult content?

[chabig]

You forget that the software runs on iPod Touches as well. Kids play with those.

[Spheric Harlot]

Nothing like some good, healthy outrage.

[Brien]

It's 2009.

Honestly, by the next generation of kids it'll probably be commonplace to own a cellphone - by then no longer a phone by definition, but something inbetween an iPhone and a Mac Pro - if not required.

[The Godfather]

I'll be an old goat before kids are required to own smartphones. Those multi-Benjamin wireless bills are eating away college funds for millions of children.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by The Godfather 

I know that the intention of the 3.0 feature is most likely for parents who use their iPhone as baby pacifiers. But the intention of the pre 3.0 parental controls were presented, by Steve himself, as aimed for youth-owned iPhones.

Actually, he only said "You can limit your child to only viewing movies that are PG or PG-13, and you can limit your child to only playing apps from the app store that are age-appropriate."

And there's a HUGE difference between a baby pacifier and allowing a three-year-old to play a game.

Do you have children?

[The Godfather]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Actually, he only said "You can limit your child to only viewing movies that are PG or PG-13, and you can limit your child to only playing apps from the app store that are age-appropriate."

And there's a HUGE difference between a baby pacifier and allowing a three-year-old to play a game.

Do you have children?

I only used the word figuratively. I didn't really imply that iPhones were being used as teething toys or hung from the baby mobile.

No children here.

[Judge_Fire]

My son learnt to use the Photos app in my iPhone at 1 year old, way before he could talk, to point out things he would like. We then took a bunch of photos of things around the house and it made communication sooo much easier.

When he had the iPhone figured out, he really wanted to try out the iMac and eventually got through the using-a-mouse frustration at about 15 months, motivated mainly by iPhoto and some other apps - again, pics of familiar stuff, or favorite music.

(There was a spooky period where he had suddenly figured out how to add folder scripts that actually did things in Finder, fortunately that passed...)

The iPhone UI was the gateway drug. With only two components (finger, UI widget) it was much easier to pick up than the four-step Mac UI (hand, mouse, pointer, UI widget). He's two now, and the Mac UI is no issue - the Wii is now the ongoing struggle.

It's great for kids, in moderation of course, and provided the kid isn't of the I-shall-destroy-everything- variant. And yes, I got him a Touch because of all this. The current YouTube favorite is of course Shimajiro's Toilet Adventure.