My main driver is an iPhone SE from 2016, which I bought used in 2019 for 50 euro (about 50 dollars). Best phone I've ever had. It does get worse with every update just like every other device with software updates), but it's still quite usable.

I wish I learned the trick of "buying quality devices that are a few years old and using them until end-of-life" ages ago (also works great with laptops, though Apple's ones tend to stay expensive despite their age, so it works better with Thinkpads), I've spent so much money on brand new devices, which did not benefit me in any meaningful way.

More to the thread: I too am puzzled by the idea of giving my child a device that allows them to rot their brain but doesn't allow us to call each other. Seems like it should be the other way around—I keep hearing how the people who run big tech companies don't let their kids use technology, because they know how harmful it is.

You can get a new Nokia dumbphone for 60 euros: https://www.nokia.com/phones/de_de/nokia-6310?sku=16POSE01A0.... Up until recently there were even models that only cost 20.

You can't get a cheap dumb phone in the United States. Carriers here will not activate a device unless it has 4G.

So the concept of a prepaid sim card doesn't exist?

I believe they have dumb phones with 4G. My grandfather uses one (…to call me to Google stuff for him.)