how old would your kids have to be for their first coputer/laptop with internet connection cause im 13 and i not allowed one do you think its unfair?

also any kids tell me how old you where when you go yours or if your
not allowed one

and parents tell me how old your kids where when they got theirs


all opinions welcome

I think my sister got hers when she was about 14, I used to use hers until my parents brought me my own 2 years ago.

I got mine when i was 9.

My kids won't have internet connection in their rooms until they are 18 (if they are still living at home). If the computer is a hobby of their's (they like to mess around with programming, etc) then I wouldn't mind them having a computer in their room.

But, they would have to share a computer with any siblings in the same room, and that probably wouldn't happen until they are at least 13 or until I think they are mature enough to care for it. If I were to see broken toys in their room, then it might have to wait.

I am very much in support of family computers, though, and do think that all computers in a home should be networked with parental controls so that the parents can see what the kids are doing on any computer in the house. Just my opinion.

And this is an opinion of someone without kids, and I understand these preferences may change once I do have kids.

My brother allows my nephews only monitored access to the internet & controls it with the signal in his house. While the oldest is 10, I do think that's a bit early for unlimited access to the internet. If I was to have kids, I'd end up doing the same as him.

I'd have the computer in a common family area and I'd use the parental controls on the WiFi signal to limit the access to the net. I think that limitation would go away as the child matures.

I got mine when I was 10.

My kid can have a computer as soon as they need one for schoolwork like writing papers or using Excel, but they will not get their own internet connection until they are 18 in my home. I don't want my kids to be constantly plugged in to things.

I've had my own computer and Internet connection since I was about 13. I didn't want it, but we had to put the computer in my room because there wasn't any room anywhere else. If/When I have kids, I probably wouldn't let them have their own computer and Internet connection until around 16 or 17.

well, I am 9, and I dont have a computer. I do have an iphone (basicly a iPod, but it has no service) tht I go on the internet and play applications on.

I got my own computer when I was 14, and it was in my room as there was nowhere else to put it, and I was the only one who knew how to use it. As I am now an adult and out of the house living on my own, and teaching children for a living, I think this was probably a mistake on my parent's part. I was a pretty good kid growing up, but I definitely did stuff that I would not approve of other kids doing now.

If kids have a lot of school work that requires a computer I have no problem with them having their own computer, but internet access should be monitored. If I had a kid, they would get unlimited internet access after they turned 18.

I think my first computer w/o interwebs was around... 3? Heh, I loved the Mickey drawing games and Pooh Bear games. And then there was the Disney Emperors New Groove game...

However, mine first official computer with official internet access (I had the computer before I went online- I'd sneak online I also used my grandpa's laptop before that) was this year, actually. XP crashed and I had to reinstall it- but no XP disk. D: So, I proudly use Windows 7. (Legally, of course.)

And, just my two cents, IMO, parental controls are pointless.
If your child is young enough to need them- they shouldn't be on. And yes, the one I got handed down to me (when I was 3) was in my room. I think that if you ARE allowing your kids to use a computer w/ internet access, you should monitor them and set rules. (IE: You can play on Disney for 1hr today, BUT, you have to help rake leaves.) It should be used NOT as bribery, but as a reward.

Our computer is in our family room, but I'm usually the only one that uses it, and the internet.

Hopefully at christmas I'm getting a laptop, mainly so I can play TS3.
My parents are going to let me have the internet if I want it because they know they can trust me.

Really, I think you should just go with what your parents say. At least you are allowed to use a computer.

I am 13, and I have my own laptop. Since it is portable, and it has all my personal essays/websites/i edit videos for youtube on there. I got it when I was erm...11/12...i think. It is really useful. I can take it to my bed, and type up an essay it is the warm bed((: I love it.

Since I mentioned YouTube..:
Heres my channel(:
Take a peek(:
CLICK (all age appropriate)

I got my on my 15th birthday. 3/4 of the time I am using it for school work.

I don't really get the point of not having internet access. My school uses the internet a lot as 2 of my classes are online. All the lectures and activities are at school but I can do all the work at home.

i got mine for my 15th birthday, i think that is a reasonable age.

13 maybe? I dunno. xP

Eh, I'd say 13, maybe 14, is a reasonable age to allow kids their own computer with internet connection. It may vary from person to person, but I'm going to go ahead and make the generalization that most kinds are responsible enough by the age of 14 to avoid illegal and otherwise degrading activities on the internet. As for overuse of the computer and internet, (Something I'm guilty of, but that's a topic for another day) frankly, people these days are jacked-in nearly 24/7. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen.

Now, I see some people are mentioning monitoring their children's activities, and my opinion may seem fairly aloof to parents and others alike, but leave them be. If you don't trust them enough to freely wander the internet without supervision, don't give them a personal computer in the first place. Just advise them to stay away from inappropriate material beforehand, rather than jump on them after you discover something they've done or somewhere they've been. Like they say, what has been seen cannot be unseen. Not to mention, if your child discovers you have been secretly watching every move they make, what exactly would this do for your relationship with him or her?

Just my two cents.

Oh, one last note. If you already have internet connection for a main family computer in your home, and you were to give your child a personal computer. how exactly would you keep them from accessing the internet? Aside from creating an administrative account on your child's computer (Which would be fairly invasive, in my opinion, and I'm not even sure if this would work to begin with), would there really be another conceivable way to cut off the their access? ...Setting up a password for the wireless router, may work, but if you have access on another computer, one could most likely find this password fairly easily.

...For better or for worse, computers seem to be an even playing field for kids and adults.

We had a no-internet computer from when I was 3 to when I was 6, then we got a new computer with internet access. I had monitored access until I was 8, then unmonitored access in the main room until we got a new computer when I was 11. At this point the computer moved to my room. Due to the fact that it was an older house and wireless connections weren't mainstream yet, I was not capable of having a connection until I was 12. At this point I had my own password-protected computer and unmonitored internet access. I built my own desktop in 2007, got a laptop my sophomore year of high school, and then since it was a really old one that a local company tossed out, it had some problems and the HDD died. Instead of wasting money fixing it, since it was so old in the first place, I got a new laptop last year.

"Oh, one last note. If you already have internet connection for a main family computer in your home, and you were to give your child a personal computer. how exactly would you keep them from accessing the internet? Aside from creating an administrative account on your child's computer (Which would be fairly invasive, in my opinion, and I'm not even sure if this would work to begin with), would there really be another conceivable way to cut off the their access? ...Setting up a password for the wireless router, may work, but if you have access on another computer, one could most likely find this password fairly easily."

There is software for this, and also the router could use MAC filtering or just a simple WPA key. If the connection is wired, that makes it easier: just don't give the child an opportunity to plug in.

Well, you don't have to have a wireless network in your home at all to begin with, and if you really don't want your kid on the internet, you can build a computer without wireless capabilities.

Change the WEP key so the kid does not know it.

I gave my son who is 3.5 years old a computer with the net and a webcam. He loves it but prefers to use daddy's when daddy is at work.
My son has been playing games and such since he was 2 years old.
I have no problems as he only wants to play kiddie games and he skypes to grandparents

I was 11 when I recieved my laptop, and personally I haven't gotten into any serious trouble with my internet connection since then. I believe that children who would like a laptop should only get one if fully trusted by the parent, and will use it safely and responsibly.

(Btw, not trying to be a smart kid or a goodie-goodie, just giving my opinion. o3o)

Wow most of you guys are lucky. I didn't get a laptop until I went to college... I didn't even get a cell phone until I was 15! And now I see 9 year olds walking around with them. Geez..

I think it's ridiculous when kids have cell phones. I didn't get one until I was 16 and a half, and as much as I say I can't live without it, in all honesty I don't think my life would be totally different without it (other than the fact that the camera is awesome and I use it frequently).

I didn't have a cell phone until I was 15 too, and it was just for emergencies. I didn't get a computer with internet capabilities until I went to college! I had one that I could do word processing and stuff on and it played some of my games that ran on Windows 98, but it was so slow that it couldn't get on the internet.