What you need to know before giving your kid a phone, plus the Wirecutter-tested trackers, smartwatches, and phones to consider.

Guests: Wirecutter senior staff writer Ellen Lee &  Dr. Devorah Heitner

Additional Reading:

• The Best First Phones for Kids
• The Best Smartwatches for Kids
• The Best Parental Control Apps to Manage Screen Time (and Keep Your Kid Safer Online)
• Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World  by Dr. Devorah Heitner
• Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World by Dr. Devorah Heitner

Products we recommend:

• Apple AirTag
• Tile Mate
• Bark Phone
• Pinwheel
• Apple iPhone SE (3rd generation, 128 GB)
• Verizon Gizmo Watch 3
• Apple Watch SE GPS + Cellular

Check out more NYT podcast coverage about the recent push to ban phones in schools from The Daily and Hard Fork.
 

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The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel.Engineering support from Maddy Masiello and Nick Pitman. Episodes are mixed by Catherine Anderson, Efim Shapiro, Rowan Niemisto, Sophia Lanman, and Sonia Herrero. Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Elisheba Ittoop, and Diane Wong. Wirecutter’s deputy publisher and general manager is Cliff Levy. Ben Frumin is Wirecutter’s editor-in-chief. Hosted by Rosie Guerin, Caira Blackwell and Christine Cyr Clisset.

Find edited transcripts for each episode here: The Wirecutter Show Podcast