When Should Kids Get a Cell Phone?
Posted on 02 01, 2007 under Master Debaters, Technology by wahoodad | Comments
You’re at “Happy Feet” with your kid, mesmerized by the tap-dancing Mumbles and his soulful, singing brethren, when you hear a cell phone interrupt Gloria’s solo. You look around for the inconsiderate grown-up, wondering why an adult would choose Hannah Montana’s “If We Were a Movie” as a ring tone, when you see a girl about seven years old whip out a pink clamshell phone. She answers, and yaps away for a minute before closing the phone with a loud SNAP!
It seems that the average age of kids with cell phones is creeping downward, and these days it’s not uncommon to see kids in elementary school talking on a cell phone during the school bus ride home. “Yeah, Mom? I should be at the stop in about ten minutes. Can you have my snack ready? I’m inviting some friends over to play in my Webkins World room at 3:15 and I don’t want to be late.”
There’s no denying that we live in a hyper-communicative world. The only place you’re out of reach from the phone is—hopefully—when you’re straddling porcelain. While it’s natural to want to be able to reach your kids at all times, how soon should you plug in your kid to the wired world?
We’ve all seen the horror stories in the news about parents stuck with cell phone bills upwards of $1,000 in one month from an out-of-control text-messaging minor. The big, evil cell phone provider wants to collect but the parent doesn’t think he should have to pay because the kid didn’t understand how quickly charges add up. There are even kid-friendly phones like the FireFly that allow parents to control the usage. And how about the new phone service from Disney? From a website, you can control your kid’s address book, when the phone can be used, and other features. I think you can even control your kid’s bowel movements; and the GPS locator inside the phone lets you see on a map where your kid is at all times. The next time he says he’s at the arcade with some friends, you’ll know that he’s really trying to double his money at the local dog track. Big Brother with Mouse ears.
The cell phone companies are going to continue marketing to younger and younger kids. You’re eventually going to get the but-all-the-other-kids-have-them argument from your kid (to which you can retort, “What if all the other kids had rickets? Would you want them, too?”). You’re going to have to make the decision at some point, so you might as well discuss it now:
When should kids get a cell phone?
This is the latest installment in our Master Debaters Question of the Week Series. There are some topics that seem to fall into the consensus category: drunk driving is bad, guns kill people, Transformers are better than GoBots. But that only covers less than 1% of the decisions you and your spouse make towards the upbringing of your kids. The majority of issues tend to fall more in the gray area.
Here at Noodad.com, we take pride in delivering important advice for dads. But we realize that some of our advice is subjective. The collected readership surely has things to add and unique perspectives to contribute.
So where do you weigh in?
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