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The cell phone isn't necessary but it has been marketed that way. Some parents buy into it while others don't. "What if there is an emergency?" I hear them asking...what indeed!
I tutor a 12-year-old who has an iPhone. I think it's ridiculous. I didn't have a cell phone until I was 14 and even then it was so simple (no camera or anything). I finally got the iPhone in December at age 19, and I'm really grateful for it.
I think a cell phone in middle school is helpful, because it's when kids are starting to become more independent. But something elaborate like an iPhone doesn't leave them anything to look forward to when they can really appreciate it.
I remember starting Highschool (in 2001) and some girls had cell phones. I asked my mom and you know what she got me A PHONE CARD to use at the pay phone. She told me I could have a cell when I began driving.
I was born in the era of rotary phones. I remember the first generation cell phones. Obviously, there has been a huge market developed and some incredible technology incorporated into that marketing.
But really...it's still about perspective. I think we tend to get distracted and forget about things like practicality, productivity and safety when the focus on selling the product becomes its "coolness, hipness and sexiness." Then a normally rational person might find themselves picking a phone because it has 350,000 apps versus the "limited" 75,000 of another phone even though they will likely use only a handful of those apps.
The advertisers know how to tap into our all the sections of our brains and we now have ageneration of kids who feel lost if they don't have a phone or forgot theirs at home. Such is the fate of a consumer society.
My 7 year old has been asking for a phone but has not given me a compelling reason to get her one yet. And yes, she came right out of the gate asking "But what if there's an emergency?" I said, "Have the teacher call." My wife, an educator, chuckled from the other room. Maybe that's a story for another day.
I think all teenagers should have their own landline number in the house. Its only a few dollars more and much peaceful in the house.
Unless the child is very active - after school activities then yes a cell is necessary.
their own land line in the house? lol, that's so old school! I had my own number in the house when I was a teen but we don't even have a land line anymore having 3 different cell numbers, who needs a land line....and kids don't even actually talk, it's all about texting, so they really wouldn't be into the land line thing lol
just wanting to add that I don't mean that sarcastically at all...I'm just lol'ing at the difference in times from when I was a teen to now!
I have mixed feelings about kids with cell phones. My 10 year old wants one. She's an incredibly responsible girl, and she'd help pay for it (she's already offered that). She's very involved in community theater, and we have to drop her off at rehearsals, so sometimes I think she should have her own phone. But so far, the few times she's needed one (very few times) the adults in charge have happily let her use theirs.
On the other hand, my niece has a cell phone, and while she's at my house spending time with her cousins, she is constantly texting her friends. She has one friend in particular, the leader of the pack, who is always checking in via text to see what my niece is doing. That's what I do not like about cell phones. I don't like that these kids are never really in the moment because they're always connected to their friends who aren't there.
My other concern is about kids developing a sense of independence and responsibility. Life doesn't just come with these things.
I didn't have my first cell til I was 29 years old. (I'm in my 30s now)
However, my kids will probably have cells starting when they can go places by themselves - so probably around 9 years old or so.
The whole "I didn't have X when I was a kid" argument doesn't fly with me. Hundreds of generations of kids grew up without cars, land lines, computers, indoor plumbing etc. So what?
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Suburban Dilemmas - Cell Phone Horror Stories
