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This British dad has created an app that will make unanswered texts a thing of the past.

For most parents, the main reason for giving their child a smartphone is to be able to communicate with them.  Difficulty arises, however, when it turns out that your child is less interested in responding to your calls and texts and is more concerned with their Instagram profile. Thankfully, there’s a new app on the market designed to solve this very problem.

Finding A Solution

British dad Nick Herbert created ReplyASAP as a solution to his son Ben’s inability to respond to important messages. The app temporarily freezes the recipients phone until they respond to the message, which is sent via the app, and will play a loud alert tone if it is ignored, even if the phone is on silent. “ReplyASAP makes messages unmissable between people that matter since important messages shouldn’t be missed,” Nick said. Essential Kids says the app was designed to motivate children to answer their parents by using a ‘currency’ important to them – access to their phone. We can hear teenagers everywhere cursing Nick and his app already…

Taking Responsibility

While the app isn’t a magic solution – kids can still turn off their phone if they don’t want to be contacted – it does attach a level of responsibility to owning a phone. The independence that goes along with phone ownership is, to some extent, a privilege. Nick hopes the app will help educate users about the types of messages that require a more immediate response, and give parents peace of mind. We’re guessing using the app will take some practice for parents as well as kids – as tempting as it might be to use it for absolutely everything, it’s probably best to save it for when you really need it. Your kids will thank you for it.

What age do you think children should own their own smartphone? Let us know in the comments!

 

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  • Excellent idea.
    I refused to get my kids a phone until they were 13 and even then I wasnt happy about it. Its insane that now 5 year olds have phones and the parents say its so they can keep in touch. I dont understand this. Your child should be either at school or with a trusted adult so why is there an issue that they require a phone?

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  • This sounds like a good idea.

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  • clearly a dad that cares about his son.

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  • I love this! I know of some teenagers who have caused great angst to their parents whilst out and far away from home by deliberately not replying. This would certainly fix that problem!!

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  • Very clever idea.

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  • Fantastic idea!

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  • That is genius, a very clever little invention.

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  • Clever dad right there !

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  • Love that idea, that father is a genius.

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  • Temporarily freezing the phone will definitely make kids reply quickly..lol!

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  • This is a great idea and will let parents know if they don’t get a response it could be serious

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  • This is a pretty sensible solution if the problem exists in your family.

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  • I think its important for kids to have their own smart phone when they are old enough that you start letting them go to the park/walk home from school etc. If they are by themselves then I think they need to have that phone there in case they need you in an emergency

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  • I don’t have this issue with my kids, so don’t need to use it.

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  • I’m years from having this issue but thank you!, I hope it still exists in future with even better features

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