Best back-to-school tech: Does your kid need a laptop? Can they use AI?

There’s no single “right” age to give a child a smartphone. But most experts say it’s best to put it off as long as possible to make sure children—and you—are ready to handle a myriad of risks.

These include the potential for constant distraction, the perils of social media, exposure to predators, bullies, and many other issues their growing brains aren’t yet equipped to manage in a healthy way.

A global study of nearly 30,000 young adults released in May by Sapien Labs, a non-profit that researches well-being and the impact of technology on mental health, showed that the earlier kids get smartphones, the more they struggled as young adults with “suicidal thoughts, feelings of aggression towards others and a sense of being detached from reality.”

But some kids 12 and older might need a device for school. And some parents want a basic way to get in touch with their kids as young as seven in an emergency. So, how do we figure it all out and keep our kids safe?

Start with “training wheel” tech tools.

Think of teaching your kids about tech the same way you teach them how to ride a bicycle. Show them the basics and give them as much protection as you can. We make sure they wear a helmet, right? Think of basic protections such as ‘parental supervision’ and ‘time limits’ for tech in the same way. Then, as kids learn and get more confident, parents—at some point—need to let go.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Are AirTags a good idea for kids?

Several friends with preschool and elementary-age kids start off with an AirTag ($29) or Tile Tracker ($30). They put the little quarter-sized Bluetooth-enabled GPS discs in backpacks, on lanyards, and in wrist-worn bands to “see” their child’s recent location on a map.

This is not an Apple or Life360 (the company that owns Tile now) approved way to use its devices. Both companies say their trackers are for inanimate objects only, not kids or pets, but that hasn’t stopped anyone.

Accessory makers are getting in on it too. I just reviewed Watchitude’s $22 Tag’d slap-band-style digital kids watch. It’s designed to slide an AirTag (sold separately) underneath the watch face, and it’s one of thousands of similar tracker accessories aimed at kids.

If you decide to go this route, realize the limitations and potential privacy concerns involved, and don’t think of it as a substitute for paying attention to your child.

“Parents get in trouble when they think of technology as a stand-in for good parenting,” family tech expert Sarah Werle Kimmel told me over the phone. “It’s a tool, nothing more, nothing less.”

What age is appropriate for a kids smart watch?

Kimmel, who also created and runs the Family Tech Zone website, started with Verizon’s Gizmo Watch to foster independence in her then 10-year-old son while also providing her a little piece of mind.

She said it worked as advertised, but wishes it wasn’t locked into Verizon carrier coverage, which doesn’t work as well as some other providers in her area of Utah. Still, Kimmel said it did a decent job with “mostly accurate” GPS location data. She also said her son liked the activity tracker and was good about using the trusted contacts features when he needed to call or text.

“I made him use the watch until he showed me he could take care of it, use it appropriately, and then graduate to the next level of device when his age, maturity level, and needs increased,” Kimmel said.

What are the benefits of smartphones for kids?

I’ve been testing the top “kid-safe” smartphones for the past year, including Bark, Troomi, Gabb, and Pinwheel.

Each device comes with its own set of pros and cons, and if you just want to know which one I recommend, it’s either Troomi or Pinwheel.

These two are hands-down the easiest to set up and use out of the box. The dashboards are simple, and they’re easy to manage with as many −or as few −controls as you want or need.

Troomi and Pinwheel are also good at what most parents want the most, including letting you keep tabs on who kids can text or call, having a say in what apps they can access and when, setting device times (like turning “off” during school or bedtime), and GPS location-gating and tracking.

I find Bark’s dashboard to be the least intuitive but it’s monitoring service is really strong. For me, Gabb is the least worthwhile overall.

Kimmel agrees. “There is no internet available on the device at all. This means there is no browser and no social media apps. The phone only has the ability to talk and text, but you can’t limit contacts, how long your child spends on the device, and when they can use it. So, they could wake up in the middle of the night and talk or text with a stranger, and you would never know.”

Are parental controls effective?

Several people told me that iPhones, even with FamilySharing and Screen Time parental controls enabled, are the easiest for kids to work-around and hide what they’re doing. There are entire Reddit threads and dozens of YouTube videos that teach kids how to hack their devices and sneak around behind parents backs.

“There’s never a point as a parent that you can check out on this," Kimmel said.

Should I buy my kid a laptop?

Here are a few of the questions I always start with:

• Why do they need it now, and what will they use it for?

• Does their school loan students Chromebooks or other devices?

• Is your child ready for their own device?

• Do you have the time, energy, and know-how to use parental controls and establish family screen time rules?

For elementary school-age kids, consider using a shared family PC in a place where an adult can keep an eye on what kids are doing and how much time they’re spending on the device overall.

Is Chromebook safer for kids?

If you have more than one child and the family PC gets major traffic, consider an inexpensive Chromebook, which is great for basic-level computing. Just be sure to set it up as a “child” device out of the box, so that you can control settings and what kids’ can access. (I often recommend setting time limits, so the device automatically turns off when time’s up. Also, consider turning off access to YouTube, video games, all social media, and anything with violence, especially without adult supervision.

The main con: lack of memory, especially if it’s super low-cost (in the $200-$300 range). While almost everything gets stored in the cloud, there will come a day when students need memory and storage on the device, too.

You can either use a backup storage drive − I use the 2TB WD Drive for Chromebook ($70) or look for a Chromebook with at least 64GB of storage and 8GB of memory. That should be fine even as they get older and need to access several assignments offline.

Which laptops are good for kids?

There are dozens of decent options in the “under $500” category. The two main things you need to look for are memory and storage.

My daughter used the same 11’ Macbook Air from 2014 until about two months ago, without any trouble in terms of battery life, storage, memory, etc. That’s a long time for a single laptop, and we felt like we really got our money’s worth out.

Another set-it-and-forget-it easy laptop is Lenovo’s Slim Pro 7, which is a new model I’m using right now. It’s light, thin, fast and affordable, and has enough battery to get through the day. It’s also a 2-in-1 laptop that students can use it as a traditional clamshell or transform into a tablet via the central rotating soundbar and hinge, which is great for schoolwork, as well as downtime.

Should my student use AI?

A recent survey by digital security company McAfee found that less than a quarter of parents (21%) have discussed AI with their children, despite a majority being concerned about it. The biggest worry? That kids might use it to cheat, or that it could empower a whole new level of deepfakes and cyberbullying.

On the other though, many educators think it could be a powerful tool to help kids learn. As a result, several new “kids safe” AI chat tools are popping up to make sure youngsters have a way to explore this next frontier of modern technology, including:

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• Furwee - for children ages 3-7, uses an animated character to introduce young children to interacting with an AI chatbot

• PinwheelGPT - for kids 8-14, based on ChatGPT. Removes explicit language and adult content, and enables parental monitoring of all chats. (This is from the same company mentioned above that makes the kid-safe phones.)

• Khanmigo - billed as Khan Academy’s AI-powered guide that can tutor students and act as an assistant for teacher.

• AI Chat for Kids - fun chat with AI for kids.

• AI Kids Club - AI chat learning app for children.

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech columnist and on-air correspondent. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY. Contact her atJJ@Techish.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Best back-to-school tech for kids: AirTags, laptops, AI, smart watches