What Age Should We Give Our Kid A Cell Phone?

[angad619 0]

I guess a kid really needs a cell phone when he enters High School (around 15 in India). By needs, I mean that parents must give their children a very basic phone. In India Reliance Telecommunications has phones with basic fascilities for as low as 666Rs (about 16$). It is very common with kids arount the age of 16 in India.Then after a couple of years, say when the teen goes to a professional college where he may have to travel long distances to get to college or stays away from family, parents should buy their kid a better handset.I think teens can upgrade to a costlier handset when they can buy their own mobile with their own earnings. Atleast that's what my parents did when I was 17. They first bought me a sagem My-X1 at 17. Now I'm 19 and I recently bought the S500i since I travel 1.5hrs everyday to college and back!! My parents were wise and I love them for it!!!!

Notice from rvalkass:

Duplicate post removed as per user request.

Edited October 26, 2007 by angad619 (see edit history)

[THUMP 0]

Obviously, a cell phone is a tool which a kid do not require, at least usually, but even if it could prove to be useful, we or you all should know the risks of a child using a cell phone, which are pretty much the same as for the adults, except the fact that the kid would have access to the internet, it would be expose to radio waves which could damage him fisicaly more then it does to the adult bodies because kids are more fragile, plus, kids should not have access to certain objects/tools until they are 16 years old at least, but it is better just when they are 18 years old, until then they should be educated of the risks, of the benefits and the advantages and disadvantages of using cell phones, one more risk is that anyone can call him, and if a pedophile man/worman calls him, is it not a very big risk, is it not the biggest risk, or even a murderer, a raper or a person that will want to trade the kid for money, or just kill him for revenge?
There are a lot of risks, kids should not have cell phones, never!

well kids should be given ceel phones at the age of 16 to 18
18 is what i think they may stop concenrating to studies and always on with their cell phones i accept and with you mate you are right kids may see porn play all time and much more crap

[Tramposch 1]

Age is sometimes not how you tell, it is how social they are, the more social they are at a young age, the sooner they will need a phone, but if they arn't like s uper social.. then i believe every child should receive a cell phone during graduation from the 8th grade, because in highschool you tend to be staying after school more, and going to hang with your friends and stuff..but th emost important thing is.. they don't use it when they drive, luckily that is a law where i live, if you are under 18 you can get a ticket from driving while talking on a cell.One other thing, i knew this guy who was a year ahead of me, he didnt graduate from school, he already had a phone, and he stole somebodies money and bought porn on the phone, so that is another thing that can happen. (oh yeah he got sent to juvinile hall)

Edited October 31, 2007 by Tramposch (see edit history)

[Renaissance 0]

The question is not about age but maturity. Maturity, maturity, maturity!As stated before phone privilages can not be awarded by age, but rather earned by trust. If a mentally mature twelve-year-old needs a phone give it to them. Don't give it for no reason, but perhaps as a reward for their maturity/responsibility. On the otherhand, an immature eighteen-year-old should not be simply given a phone. They can either work for the privilage (pay for it themselves), or if a parent prefers them no to work, an allowance system should be instated.For teens that display moderate maturity pre-pay or "pay as you go" phones are best. The teen will quickly learn to watch their minutes and respect the privilage. And as there are always exceptions, any kid who needs but is not mature enough for a phone (especially gradeschoolers), should be given a kids phone regardless of age. Yes, if a fourteen-year-old needs a phone, yet does not instill a good level of faith, give them a wisely limited child's phone.Basically, it all comes down to the mentallity towrds cellphones; if a person wants/needs a phone for valid reasons they tend to use it appropiately. However, those who want or "need" it just because, will generally abuse it the privilage if their not monitored.

[rvalkass 5]

The question is not about age but maturity. Maturity, maturity, maturity!

You took the words right out of my mouth (well, fingertips). I got a mobile when I was 12 or 13 because my parents thought I was responsible and mature enough to not let it distract me or anything. For me it was more of an emergency device - I often cycle around the local area and I could call for help if I was hit or had an accident. People seem to forget that these devices are mobile phones. That is pretty much all I use my phone for, that and the odd text message (just because its cheaper than making a call).

 

I see some people at school who will sit and constantly send text messages to their friend on the other side of school. That is about 180 metres away! Surely it makes more sense for them to walk to each other and have a conversation? Text messages are 10p each, so over a day some of these people are spending up to ?5 chatting to people they could actually yell to! To me, those people just don't have the maturity to use a mobile phone properly, especially if their parents are funding this.

[demonatashadow 0]

if i were an adulti would give my kid a cell phone anytimeas long as they pay for it themselves and don't make prank calls to companies andstuff like that

[crazyfray 0]

If you want your kids' teachers to love you forever, try after their GCSEs . Any kid'll tell you how disrupting the darn things are in the classroom.

 

I agree with Renaissance on maturity though. I use mine all the time, and it would be harder to organise things without it (both work and social). I'm not tied to it, but it is a useful tool. So from that angle, there's nothing about the phones in themselves that stops them being useful for kids of any ages - it's how they are used (and marketed, TBH) that makes them a nuisance.

[Hirishiolo 0]

I've had my first cell phone at 19 because i used it for my university... it was very useful, but now I'm completely bound to it. It is a necessary part of my life. Before you give it to a child the more he will be connected to it. I think the best age is 16...

[imskaterpunk 0]

i think a kid should receive a cell phone at the age of 14, that is when i think is the best time to get one for them like for their b-day or christmas.

[krazygoddess 0]

Well I have 4 kids 18,17,5,and 4 and the two teenagers both have cellphones they pay for them themselves (which is awesome for me) my only boy is the 5 year old he is not so much into phones but my little spoiled youngest who is 4 wishes she had a cell phone she is always grabbing someones phone and trying to call people she is so hooked on phones its unbelieavable, she will probably have one around the age 11 or 12 I will not get her one before that age I still think 11 or 12 is young but I agree with some posts that I would like to know where shes at and what shes doing.

[Saint_Michael 3]

I agree with Renaissance its not about its all about the maturity and responsibility of having a phone, because if some of these phone plans didn't exist that had free text messaging. Then families would be broke the way teenagers burn through them on a daily basis. There was a topic I posted awhile about about this girl sending like 1000+ text messages a day to her friends and junk. Of course in today's world its practically a requirement to give your kid a cell phone because of the dangers that are happening these days, but I would say a prepaid phone would be a lot better for a teenager then a phone with full access that would turn it into a very large bill. The reason I would go the pre-paid phone is that if you kid can make that last longer then it normally would, i.e. needed to add more to it ever 10 minutes , then when they get older and self sufficient (working) then a full phone would be the reward. Age is a factor don't get me wrong, but oyu be surprise how immature some older people are and some teenagers are more mature then they look.

[krazygoddess 0]

but I would say a prepaid phone would be a lot better for a teenager then a phone with full access that would turn it into a very large bill.

I so agree with that being a parent of two teen girls, I and hubby have verizon and they kids have Cricket which is a repaid service with unlimited text and unlimited us calling, and they do pay for it themselves. they cant ruin or hurt there own or my credit because it is a prepaid service if you dont pay the month in advance they shut you off and you owe nothing.

[musicmaza 0]

I think the age should be 18 years of age that is when the children start going to colleges.Though I have my cell phone at the age of 17 years,but I think it affects studies but if it is not used for palying those cell games,then it doesn't affects the studies.Till 18 years of age the children must concentrate on their studies and not think of moblie phones and cell games."Studies Remain With You for Ever"

[dcshaw.en 0]

I really hate these topics.No offense, but I think they're stupid.The first problem with itYou're throwing every single child on the planet under one big blanket of when they should be able to have a cellphone, which is just not something that most people consider acceptable nowadays.To further on with this point, well, to explain it at least:Some kids mature faster than others.Some kids are just naturally responsible with benefits.Some kids don't give a rat's *bottom* about cellphones and wouldn't bother abusing it if they had one.Not to mention that the majority of cell phone plans around now offer some form of unlimited talk/text time.So it's not like they'd even be wasting money.I'll be honest, I've never sent a text message via a phone in my life. I think it's pointless for any form of casual talk.If there was a specific purpose, that would be a completely different story.But as it is, few people actually use text messages for anything more important than being bored in class and wanting to try to get away with breaking the rules.Alsoby trying to decide on an age where kids should be able to get cellphones is not really doing anything but limitting the control a parent has over their own child.If you're a parent and don't think teenagers should have cellphones, great, don't give them one.If you're a parent and don't care, let them have one.It doesn't really effect anyone except the child and parent in question.No, let me correct myself,The only other parents it effects are the ones who have no backbone and put up with their kids whining and moaning because they're the only one of their friends without a cellphone.And if that is really a reason to try and limit other's abilities to let their child have a cellphone if they think the kid deserves it, then there are other problems involved in that Parent-Child relationship that I won't even begin to dwell into here.Bottom line is (in my opinion):Leave it up to the parent's if they want to pay for their teenager's phone.If the teenager can pay for their own phone or the parent volunteers to pay/help pay, there's no reason they shouldn't have it.

[adrianator 0]

A soon as a child is able to make a phone call from a house phone... you should give them a cell phone. You never know.

http://www.fireflymobile.com/

That site has cell phones for kids. It's kind of cool actually.

I don't know about those phones, but I'm sure gps in phones can help find your child if it comes down to it.

A child is less likely to be led into a 'get called and lured into a kidnapping' than be kidnapped and use their cell phone to call for help. Which would you rather have happen?

Kids are very aware of the technology we have and how to use it. My 6 year old knows how to surf the web and dial some people's phone numbers by heart and she'll call them on her own.

I don't think I'd ever get a contract plan for a child that might use more minutes racking up a bill. Get an unlimited minutes account or a prepaid. Show them how to use it and supervise their use of it for a while until they are used to and understand it's function and that it's a responsibility.

Edited April 26, 2008 by adrianator (see edit history)