When Should Kids Have Cell Phones?

I know I have 4 birds but the red ones are pretty much useless.

During a recent Twitter chat via #SingleParentsTalking, the question came up regarding kids and cell phones. When should a child have a cell phone? And how young is too young?

To be honest, I am one of those people that would get my daughter a cell phone right now if it weren’t so odd for an 8 year old to have a celly. Well, and if she knew how to use one for something other than playing Angry Birds. She once called me from the neighbor’s house to ask if she could have an apple, and then spent the rest of the time yelling “What? I can’t hear you!” to me. I don’t want to imagine what the convos would be like if she had her own cell phone to call anytime she wanted.

Many millions of children made it through life safely into adulthood, without a cell phone. I grew up rarely even using a regular phone until my teen years and we grew up just fine. We had rotary phones with cords that wouldn’t reach any farther than your mom and dad. And when I got older, phones in boxes that you had to put money in. That’s right, I was around pre-invention of the cell phone, and right on time for the cordless phone. Those were exciting times.

Still, for some reason, I would feel like my daughter would be safer if she had one. As Beard and Pigtails mentioned in the chat, there are still a number of hazards associated with children and cell phones. One is sexting. In this article (from 2009) it was reported that 4% of teens 12-17 had engaged in sexting while 15% had at least admitted to receiving nude images or videos via text. Other problems could include interference with school and activities and plain old misuse ($20,000 phone bill ring any bells?)

Out of curiosity, I took a look at some of the cell phones that are available for children/teens and found a few possibilities that allow the parent to control how much or how little the child is able to use the phone.

Prepaid Phones

Almost all of the large carriers have prepaid cell phones, which simply mean you pay for the minutes in advance. TracFone is also one of the more popular pay-as-you go services. There are no contracts with TracFone and you can choose your own plan. Once those minutes run out, you have to somehow reload or add minutes to the phone. This prevents the possibility of someone getting chatter happy and calling grandma, bff1, bff2, entire classroom, 911 and maybe China, and racking up an obscene phone bill. You can also buy these phones without texting privileges and can track the phone calls they are making.

Kajeet

Oddly enough, there are cell phones that have been designed especially for children and teens. Whether you agree that kids should have them or not, there is a fairly large market for them. I came across Kajeet which allows parents to monitor the use of the phone, such as the hours it can be used and what numbers can be called or receive calls from,  through an online monitoring system. There is also a GPS locator if for some reason, you need to track down where it is.

FireFly Glow Phone

I like this phone the most for kids because it allows very limited use and very few features. There is voice mail, but only two keys that can call Mom and Dad or anyone else you program them for. You can also choose which phone numbers the FireFly phone is actually permitted to receive calls from as well.

I’m still not sure of the appropriate age for a child to have a cell phone. It may depend on the individual and whether parents are willing to monitor the phone use. It is possible to limit and keep an eye on it even if you don’t get a phone specifically for children.

What do you think? Is it safer to allow your child to have a cell phone?

Or should kids only be allowed to use phones with short cords?