Cell phone debate

[jkim05]

Originally Posted by RGD.

Well I'll chime in here. The question is not really does "a" ten year old need a cell phone - the question is does Andy's ten year old son need a cell phone. And really only Andy and his wife can answer that question.

Most of us here really don't know all the conditions and/or circumstances that go with their daily life.

When my oldest daughter was ten she was in band and several other activities. Did I give her a cell phone - yes I did. Did she carry it every day - no she did not. It was a pay as you go phone. She was given the phone only when she went out to a function (school, babysitting, etc) that we would not be attending and returned after she was home. Call it an emergency phone. Today's society is not like when I was a kid and we rode our bikes and played all over hell until dark without telling mom and dad where we were.

She didn't get a real phone until she was 15 - and her sister didn't get one until she was 16.

That's my take on it.


Ron

I agree with Ron, but I'll add that it's not just a question of need, but appropriateness. Maybe he doesn't need a phone, but what really matters is how appropriate is it for him to have a phone. I got my first phone when I was 13, and that was at a time when many adults still didn't have cell phones. It just made life easier for me and my parents. I never really used the phone much because in general I didn't really care for talking on the phone and this was before phones really had any games (I had snake because it was a nokia).

I see lots of 10 year olds with phones, so maybe I'm a bit numb to how outrageous it is, but it just doesn't seem as shocking to me as it seems for most of the people here. I would say find out why it is he wants a phone. If it's just to play games and stuff, get him an itouch or a gameboy. Also, I'd say ask your wife why she thinks it's so inappropriate. Maybe there's something she sees that you don't. I don't personally have a problem with it, but I don't know your son, so I can't honestly say whether I would give him a phone. My doing so would not be a consequence of his age, but rather his maturity, responsibilty and purpose of the phone.