What age should kids get a phone(POLL)

[Sauron]

With "phone" do you mean a smartphone or the nokia 3310 type? I don't think there's a problem in giving kids of almost any age a simple communication device, especially if for some reason they need to be able to contact their parents regularly - the worst you'll be able to do with an old nokia is play snake in class, and that gets old fairly quickly (it's also not worse than just doodling for an hour), or make prank calls, which are easily found out and dealt with.

 

A smartphone, on the other hand, can be a lot more problematic - particularly with internet access. I don't think kids and teens below high school age should have unrestricted access to one, generally speaking. Of course, as with all things, the bar will vary depending on the specific situation and person. I think parents should do their best to make sure their children are aware of the risks and downsides - after that, it's up to them to judge whether their kid is mature enough or not.

[Sauron]

41 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

Once they are old enough to leave alone at home when you go shopping. So if something happens to them they can call their parents or emergency line.

And they should probably get a dumbphone first so they don't start doing stupid things like sending dic pics to everyone...

If they are home they probably have access to a landline anyway though (or should if leaving them home alone is a concern) - but I agree with the base idea.

[DieselWeasel]

7 minutes ago, Sauron said:

With "phone" do you mean a smartphone or the nokia 3310 type? I don't think there's a problem in giving kids of almost any age a simple communication device, especially if for some reason they need to be able to contact their parents regularly - the worst you'll be able to do with an old nokia is play snake in class, and that gets old fairly quickly (it's also not worse than just doodling for an hour), or make prank calls, which are easily found out and dealt with.

2

Snake never gets old... The new versions maybe but the old one (I think we had Nokia 5110) you could play for hours. Even my dad played it. 

[Aleks NE]

On 05/12/2017 at 4:25 AM, TrevMCC38 said:

It seems like there is a lot of debate on what age kids should get phones. I personaly feel that if they are responsible enough, they should get a hand-me-down at 9-10, and get something better at 11-12

It all depends on the kid, I was really responsible therefore I got a Sony Ericsson on contract when I was around 5 years old, however, in my siblings case they are 6 and 8 and not ready to have a phone as they're not responsible enough, sure they've Tablets and iPods and cheap phones (iPhone 4 and HTC windows phone) but in the end only 1 of the 6 devices survived over a year.

[Curufinwe_wins]

17 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

1. You are were you say you will be, if not, there are measures of discipline that can be applied.

2. Payphones exist, used if you change location.

3. Schools have phones that are free to use.

4. If neither is available a friends phone could be used if possible.

5. Apparently I don't care about my kid since I expect accountability from my children, just like my parents didn't care about me by doing the same.  

 

Payphone don't exist in any reasonable aspect for a decent proportion of Americans (hell, I'd have had to bike over half an hour to get to a grocery store where I grew up). I mean there are always ways to try to get around it. Neighbors houses etc, but realistically I'd always have and recommend a burner phone around for that purpose. It's easy even for adults to freak out and forget about possibilities like that. Let alone kids.

 

If it turns out they are abusing the burner phone we can deal with that, in the mean time it's safer and better just to have it around.

[MichaelB95]

Not to young.. They get to used to it and become phone huggers.. Or at least get them an old phone. 

[SansVarnic]

20 hours ago, mikat said:

game at school

3 words that dont belong together.

 

8 hours ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Payphone don't exist in any reasonable aspect for a decent proportion of Americans (hell, I'd have had to bike over half an hour to get to a grocery store where I grew up). I mean there are always ways to try to get around it. Neighbors houses etc, but realistically I'd always have and recommend a burner phone around for that purpose. It's easy even for adults to freak out and forget about possibilities like that. Let alone kids.

 

If it turns out they are abusing the burner phone we can deal with that, in the mean time it's safer and better just to have it around.

Not necessarily always true, like I said I can find one. But that is not the point of my comment.

 

The point was have a plan, and a fall back or plan "b" that if all else fails something is in place. We have a burner for our eldest (when babysitting here siblings) I mentioned in one of my latter replies that can be used but whether we give it to them later in say jr or sr high school will be decided on later of course. 

I was getting sick seeing the shortsighted answers that a lot of members in this forum give as though there is no such thing as old school ways to solve a problem.

 

Rhetorical:  That phone breaks and now what? 

This was my premise behind my comment.

 

Before I bought my first cell my dad got a 1-800 number, it was $3 a month or close to that and it was definitely cheaper than a cell phone. Came in handy a few times, saved my butt when I was out of state on a trip with friends and our cells didnt have service where our car broke down... lol. I had a regional plan (back when they still had regional plans! my word has it gotten better).

[NumLock21]

As I've mentioned before, the age for them to get a phone is 18 and when they have a job. I do know that when your kids are out with their friends, you want them to have a phone so they can call you and vice versa. What I would do is buy a cheap smartphone, with internet access and mainly for the GPS and MAPS app, so they can use that to help know where they are. Now when they want to go out, they can take that phone and when they come home, they give the phone back to you. Now if they want a smartphone of their own, then they will have to get a job and earn it themselves, The minimum work age isn't 18, it's a lot younger so kids can get a job, and some school even have summer job programs. By having your kids get a job to buy the things they want, it teaches them to become responsible and let them know that things want they buy are earn through hard work. However if you see they are trying really hard by saving up, you can offer to pay half of it or get it for them as a surprise birthday gift, with the money they save to buy something else they want or better off, help them save in their very own bank account.

[Mike Soda]

On 12/5/2017 at 4:45 PM, TrevMCC38 said:

Yeah, I wish that is what people said to me when they find out I have a really good phone. I don't see why people see phones as a class determiner.

It's just a money thing I guess, in my old highschool everyone saw me as being well off. Only because I always had all the basic tools schools usually require the students have. Sadly though most there couldn't be bothered to even bring a pencil let alone a calculator, ruler or protractor. Hell 1 nickname I had initially was Office Mike lol.

[Aereto_Compuru]

I let kids have phones at any age as a matter of communication necessity; does not have to be a smartphone, but I'll leave the smartphones to kids who are responsible and know how to use them.

If it's smartphones, it will be android phones since iPhones are overpriced for their performance.