Kids with Cell Phones, How Young is Too Young?

[BJ_M]

"CNet is reporting that the average age of a child receiving their first cell phone is continuing to drop. A report carried out last year showed that the average age of a child's first cell phone was just eight years old and is expected to drop closer to 5 years of age this year. The author raises the obligatory medical questions that have been argued about in adults for years. Just how young is too young for a cell phone?

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39029453,49282815,00.htm

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

There is nothing wrong with children receiving cell phones while they are really young!. Cell phones messing with your brain... bah!, nonsense!.
Check out Paris Hilton, she has a cell phone since the day she was born, and look how smart she is!...




























.....now, wait a minute....

[Lucifers_Ghost]

If the main issue is keeping an eye on/keeping tabs on or whatever you want to call it .. and 5 years old .... here's a thought: be a better freaking parent and not allow your 5 year old to venture that far away.

This is retarded. An 8 year old or a 5 year old with a cell phone is not needed AT ALL.

If all you want it for is for knowing where they are, just lodge a gps chip in their brain :P

LG

[adam]

My daugther's favorite toy is a non-activated cell phone. (She's 1 and a half years old.)

I think its great for little kids to have cell phones as long as its monitored. They aren't going to be able to use them while at school and just don't let them talk for hours at a time. I don't really buy the health concerns but even they are true I don't think they are getting that much more exposure than what they will get when they are adults. An extra 5 years of usage is a drop in the bucket compared to their adult life.

I've seen ads for those disney phones and I think they are great. You give them minutes so you have full control over how much they talk...and it teaches them to ration and moderate themselves too. You can track them via GPS and they've got a way to call for help if they need it. Sure there's a going to be concerns with parents overmonitoring their kids but how great is something like that to have in an emergency?

Lucifers_Ghost even the best of parents still leave their kids in the supervision of someone else. Birthday parties, sleepovers, chaperoned trips to movies, etc... I do think 5 yrs old is pushing it though.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

My daugther's favorite toy is a non-activated cell phone. (She's 1 and a half years old.)

I think its great for little kids to have cell phones as long as its monitored. They aren't going to be able to use them while at school and just don't let them talk for hours at a time. I don't really buy the health concerns but even they are true I don't think they are getting that much more exposure than what they will get when they are adults. An extra 5 years of usage is a drop in the bucket compared to their adult life.

I've seen ads for those disney phones and I think they are great. You give them minutes so you have full control over how much they talk...and it teaches them to ration and moderate themselves too. You can track them via GPS and they've got a way to call for help if they need it. Sure there's a going to be concerns with parents overmonitoring their kids but how great is something like that to have in an emergency?

Better safe than sorry, that's for sure.

My 3 year Old daughter's favorite toy is also my old t-mobile phone, she keeps pressing the buttons and pretending she's talking to grandma... hilarious!

[SquirrelDip]

Hmmmm..... Now that I'm the parent with a kid with a cell phone I'm beginning to think that any age less that where they can afford their own damn phone is too young.

We currently have a family plan (Bell) where we get unlimited calls between the three phones (wife, daughter and myself) and share 200 minutes (evenings and weekends are free). I have detailed billing so I can recover work related calls.

My bills no longer come in standard envelopes... The last bill was over 50 pages - 1 page summary, 1 page details for myself, 1 page details for my wife and 48 pages for my daughter.

And I thought my bills were bad... My boss has three kids and his middle daughter (16) racked up just shy of 15,000 minutes the first month she had the phone (I didn't slip a digit - that's fifteen thousand). He was very lucky that his first 3 month have unlimited usage (he didn't tell his kids this - he wanted to see how much they'd abuse the phones) - at 30 cents per minute over his base 400 (I think) he would have had one hell of a bill.

[zzyzzx]

I'm adding the whole concept of giving a kid a cellphone to my long list of reasons not to have kids.

[BJ_M]

15,000 minutes!!! omfg ...... brain damage the first week

[Conquest10]

My 3 year Old daughter's favorite toy is also my old t-mobile phone, she keeps pressing the buttons and pretending she's talking to grandma... hilarious!

Same thing here.

Those Disney phones do look like a great idea. Limited minutes so its only for emergencies and the tracking is great. I think anything below 18 is too young for a real cellphone. Don't know how it is now but when I was in school, cellphones and all electronics were banned in school and were confiscated if you were searched and had one.

[ZAPPER]

I guess it would depend on the kid and the situation.

[Noahtuck]

To have in an emergancy for kids is great, but the point is how young is too young ?

Well when i see 2 - 8 year old kids at the convenience store & one is walking around buying candy and talking on one
If a kid that young need's one to keep in touch with parents or for an emegancy to go buy some candy, or for any reason, i'm thinking the parents need to get off their asses and not let the kid go away alone that young
And a kid that young having a cell phone is just ridiculous

My daughter did not have a cell phone until she was 16-17 and then she bought her own and has always paid her own bill, she is now 21.
My son is 19 and still has never had a cell phone and has never needed one.
I just bought my FIRST cell phone ever maybe a month ago, have never even used it yet
Bought a very limited one to carry in my saddle bags on my bike in case i get a flat or something as i cruise a lot out in the country, but still i have made it 40 years without ever needing one 8)

All they are is an indulgence, bling and a nuisance, unless you have a job that is dependant on having one.

Don't know how it is now but when I was in school, cellphones and all electronics were banned in school and were confiscated if you were searched and had one.

I'm sorry but that is so funny to me
When i was in school there was no such thing as a cell phone :P

[BJ_M]

when i was in school , they banned mastodon teeth for a while, but i always slipped a few into the cave under a fur

[Noahtuck]

when i was in school , they banned mastodon teeth for a while, but i always slipped a few into the cave under a fur

Well actually when i was in high school there was a type of "wireless" phone but they were the size of the old rotary pay phones that weighed about 25 lbs.
and they were not common.

[Conquest10]

My parents got me my first phone when I was 18. It was the most limited one with the least amount of minutes and only paid for the one year. After that, I've had to pay for my own bills.

This was the must-have phone when I was in high school.

[thecoalman]

This was the must-have phone when I was in high school.

When I went to HS cell phones could also be used like a brick to beat someone to death. Health issues aside I don't have a problem with it especially if they are really restricted in their use. Good tool as well to teach them time management and of course it could be irreplaceable in a an emergency.

This is retarded. An 8 year old or a 5 year old with a cell phone is not needed AT ALL.

Some of us still live in areas where allowing a 7 or 8 year old to venture off on his own a little way is common. Besides it will keep the parents from having to scream out the back door when it's time to eat... how I used to hate that. Whole damn neighborhood would know when we were eating.

[NiteLite]

While agreeing that a 5 yr. old should have parental or other supervision, I'm much more concerned about meeting the 16, 17,ect yr. old driving towards me at 70mph while looking at their missed MTV show while downloading a MTV video while reading a text message from someone driving in the car behind them.
NL

[jimmalenko]

I'm thinking 15 years old would be the bare minimum I'd allow. I can see it being useful for "emergencies" such as when the kids start going to the movies with "friends", or work part-time and need picking up etc etc.

[lordsmurf]

any age less that where they can afford their own damn phone is too young.

Ding ding ding ... we have a winner! 8)

While agreeing that a 5 yr. old should have parental or other supervision, I'm much more concerned about meeting the 16, 17,ect yr. old driving towards me at 70mph while looking at their missed MTV show while downloading a MTV video while reading a text message from someone driving in the car behind them.
NL

This is why driving should be a school class in high school again, mandatory required education. This crap of having parents teach their kids or paying some week-long school is not working. Make those driving tests harder too, and if you cannot pass with 95% or better accuracy, no license for you. That goes for anybody, nice long 4-month class, teenagers probably most affected. Oh yeah, test in English only. Anybody caught driving without a license is either put in jail for 3 days or deported.

[Jester700]

I'm with LS. We've gotten lax on driving requirements because EVERYONE does it. But that doesn't negate the fact that we have incompetents controlling 2,000 lb. potential death machines.

I'm for stiffer drunk driving penalties, too. Not baloney law changes to .01% BAC or that sort of nonsense, but enforcing what we have.

And ability testing of senior citizens.

[SquirrelDip]

I don't know if it was ever a class here in Canada but I agree that it should be. I agree that half a dozen classes really isn't sufficient.

I saw at one of the phone stores that there are phones for kids - the phones only have a limited number of programmable buttons. I suppose if you have a need for this they could be useful.

Back on the 15,000 minutes... My boss showed me the bill, yep, 15,000. There were a number of calls that she had at 1:00 a.m. and lasted 8 +/- hours. Here's the kicker: As soon as he saw the usage (especially the times) he took her phone away - she, a couple of days later, stole her younger brothers phone and racked up another 500 minutes. Shit hit the fan...

[Conquest10]

Driver's Ed is a required class in the Chicago public schools. After taking the class, one must also complete a driving program that is taken after school and on weekends that is taught by the school. These are not things you can blow off because you will not graduate high school if you fail either one.

The problem is that everyone is made to learn this but it is not applied in real life. Speeding is regular thing. I constantly see traffic that is at least 50 mph on a 30 street. The police are not going to pull over anyone in that situation. Then you get the why me? people. Everyone else does it.

Don't know where the only English sentence in your post came from. A lot of the bad (immigrant) drivers out there do not have a license. How is making the test in English only going to affect these people? Plus, is English really needed to drive? A stop sign in the US is a red octagon with "STOP" inside. In Mexico, a stop sign does not say stop it says "ALTO" but its inside, yep you guessed it, a red octagon.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

In Ecuador it's the same red octagon, but it reads "PARE"

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Cellphone: 15,000 minutes in a month? Then stealing someone else's phone to talk more? a) thats pretty addicted if you ask me lol

Driving: I think there should be mandatory re-testing for your license every 5 years for anyone under 65, then every year over 65. The passing grade should be 90% otherwise your license is revoked until you pass it again (with a minimum of 30 days between tests). As well, over 65 should have to do an eye test with each re-examination.

I dont mean to pick on the elderly, but lets face it ... as you get older, so does your body. Doesnt work like it used to: eyes, reflexes, etc, etc.

Just my thoughts ..

LG

[SquirrelDip]

I'm with you on the re-testing but I also think it would be impractical for a road test.

However, testing for sight, reflex, peripheral etc could be done at a counter in a very short period of time. Renew your licence - take a test, over 65 renew once a year.

I don't think it's picking on the elderly, it's a fact of life.

[tenders]

"CNet is reporting that the average age of a child receiving their first cell phone is continuing to drop. A report carried out last year showed that the average age of a child's first cell phone was just eight years old and is expected to drop closer to 5 years of age this year. The author raises the obligatory medical questions that have been argued about in adults for years. Just how young is too young for a cell phone?

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39029453,49282815,00.htm

well i think when they reach the age when they start to "stray" further away from home , it would be a good idea. so far i have not had that and my son just turned 11. since cell phones and air time can be expensive , i would tend to go with FRS(you know..they look like walkie talkies ). the range on some of them is quite good and certainly alot cheaper than a cell phone

[thecoalman]

This is why driving should be a school class in high school again, mandatory required education. This crap of having parents teach their kids or paying some week-long school is not working.

Education is always good but good driving habits like anything else are learned through experience. I see many states are extending the time a driver has to drive with a permit where another licensed driver has to be in the car with them. Perhaps a test for the person with the license or the requirement that the parent go through the same classes, bad driving habits are usually learned from the parent.

Make those driving tests harder too, and if you cannot pass with 95% or better accuracy, no license for you.

I failed my first driving test, it was the driving portion. Did everthing flawlessly right up until the point where I was exiting the driving course and blew through the last stop sign. The guy giving the test said a lot of people did that...