When should a kid have a cellphone?
 

This drives me NUTS. I sit at starbucks and see 13 year olds with full blown smart phones texting and playing away. I honestly find this ridiculous, I was not able to get a cellphone until I had a job and even than I had a simple flip phone.

Than when I wanted a smartphone I had to not only pay for the phone but get my own contract as well.

What are your opinions?

All depends on where your raising you kid....if/when i buy my son a phone it woul be primarily for contact use...not a smart phone.....


then again it's 2012 technology is cheap

You can't not give kids technology if you're going to expect them to keep up in the future. When we didn't have cell phones as kids, it was no big deal, we just couldn't make calls. Keeping phones from kids now can cripple them, technologically speaking.

There is a big difference in them keeping up and being spoiled. If there is no real reason they need one they should not get one.

I am huge in tech and I had no problem adapting by the time I got my smartphone.

I think it is nuts to give kids a smart phone at that age. I think they should be allowed a simple phone to use primarily to contact their parents and make phone calls to friends. They don't need the luxury of a $300 phone that they will just break! And even then, I think middle school is a decent age to give them one.

They dont need a phone till they get a drivers liscense.

:iagree: That is a good point.

But at your age cellphones were not booming yet until you were older.
Now should a kid have an iPhone? Probably not, but kids need technology and we don't need to look at as a negative but a chance to mold them and control it.
Remember when you tell a child no they are known to break the rules anyways, this way you give them the entrance into technology but you also control how much they get.

Well, if you're huge in tech, wouldn't it make sense you can operate a smart phone?

Not sure if there is a real right or wrong answer here; just everyone's preferences. But if I had a kid, I want them at the forefront of technology, because that's where the jobs are going to be.

But kids are out on the town before they can drive, I would want my child to have a life line if they need it, a lot of scary things out today. Car accident, parties, etc.

How is that a good point? Give em a phone and a 4k lb car at the same time? :roflpuke2:

I'm 23 now just got my first smart phone 2 maybe 3 years ago. They were booming ! :happydance:

Oh ya, I knew a lot about them. Give them the owners manual and than the phone when they have a car!!!!

That does not mean they need a 300 dollar phone :p

:rofl2:

I agree on that to a point. Remember, giving them technology and controlling it is the best way to keep them in check. When I was in HS I got a nokia brick, had snack on it :tup:, but I had limits on it. The phone only had some many minutes and text, so I had to be responsible in using it.

Just sayin that kids who aren't technologically knowledgeable are going to be super-behind their counterparts. It's not a matter of "deserving" it or not. I got a computer when I was 16 instead of a car, and I was way ahead of the kids my age.