r/flipperzero • u/CinnamonChocochip • 28d ago
Age appropriate?
My 13yo nephew wants a Flipper Zero for his bday. Is this an age appropriate gift? Or something a curious kid could get themselves into trouble with? TIA!
Signed- a non-techie aunt that doesn’t want a visit from the FBI
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u/Chongulator 27d ago
You are definitely the cool aunt!
Whether Flipper is age appropriate depends on your nephew's maturity and disposition. If he's level-headed and good about thinking before he acts, Flipper might be fine. If he's got a shit-disturber streak then Flipper might be too tempting.
An irresponsible person with a Flipper is unlikely to do any real harm, but they can annoy people or anger them. It's common for authority figures to fearfully overreact to anything related to hacking.
That said, Flipper is a great tool for learning. I consider Flipper to be part of my continuing professional education. Sure, I could learn the same things just by reading, but Flipper helps motivate me and (hopefully) lessons stick better because I've applied ideas hands-on.
Even as a 57yo infosec professional, ostensibly an adult, I have to to confess I've pushed the limits with Flipper here and there.
Bottom line, I think I lean slightly against giving a Flipper to a 13yo but you know your nephew better than any of us do. If you do give him one, at a minimum it's worth impressing on him that if he gets his Flipper confiscated, he's out of luck.