One Third of 11-Year-Olds Have Cell Phones

One word...RE-DIC-U-LOUS

When I was a kid, I would get home from school (aged 8-11 or roughly same as this article), change clothes, TELL my parents where I was going, ask what time dinner was...and I'd be outside, over at the neighbors, who knows where...I didn't have a cell phone...I survived...

I mean, really, what could a 10-11 year old POSSIBLY need a cell phone for????


We just had a kid 8 months ago...and I've already told my wife, I am absolutely, completely against our child(ren) having a cell phone before they are driving.

My house, my rules...My way, no highway option...

If my kids can afford it, they can pay for it themselves, though I will restrict what they do on them and where they bring them.

I will NOT buy my kids a cell phone, they are a rip off to begin with and I will be teaching them that.

When I start having kids of my own, they will most likely have cell phones at a young age. But I will definitely be using the chaperone feature that Verizon offers to limit my child's usage.

Personally, I think it should be forbidden for kids under the age of 16 to use cell-phones. We still don't know for sure if they are hazardus or not.

While i agree most of the other comments, i do have to say though that sometimes having a cell phone at 10 and 11 is very nice to have.

Mainly if your in like Scouting (boy scouts, girl scouts, ect) where your on a camp out but you're going to be getting back late. Well im sure you wouldn't want to drive to a pick up point and wait for an hour or more because you didn't know that there going to be late.

Although before the age of 10 is ridiculous.

As a single parent with 4 kids living in the big city, I have to keep track of them to ensure we get to activities and make sure they are safe. They share 2 low end phones which doesnt do much other than place calls and send text messages. They are tought to be responsible with the phones or there are consequecies.

It is a different world these days but of course I grew up in a smaller community where my brothers and I would leave the house in the mornings and make it back home for dinner without my parents worrying.

My little cousin can text with the best of them, seems odd to me, like a different world than when I was 11, I'm only 26 and I already feel ancient.

Crazy how the tech-world changes so fast.

I got my first cell phone at 12 I think, im 28 right now and at the time cellphones just started to get affordable.. Don't really see the problem with kids owning a cellphone, being able to contact the parents (and vice versa)and friends (essentially what I did..) are both harmless and useful.
Playing games isn't a problem either, cellphone or gameboy so what.

As for all the commotion about sexting and stuff.. well.. frankly that's up to the education parents give.. Ultimately the don't have to own a great cellphone, at that age a basic cellphone is perfectly enough (no camera for ex.).

As for control, frankly I hate the notion of overseeing the child's messages or internet behaviour. With proper education and good relationship THEY will tell you everything! (that's what I did)

Finally, you pay the bill so.. Buy a pre-paid card and either recharge it yourself with a fixed value/month or give the extra money as allowance and let him choose how to manage the money. If you don't budge when the money ends too early they will eventually learn how to manage it.

Finally a word of advice to all parents, and I speak of experience from seeing many of my friends relations with their parents, the more you try to control they'r lives without actually convincing them that the rules are valid, the less they will respect you and ultimately disobey you. And trust me, you wont know half of what really happens.

Sorry for the long "comment" but I do strongly feel that overprotecting is detrimental to children and tends to ruin parent/child relations and trust.

if i had a cellphone at that age...i would be rich right now .

Hald are having sex so having cellphones are nothing. Ahh, what the parents don't know.

@snowgoer1998
Hey I'd like to see you freak out when the school calls and says theres an accident and you have no idea where your kid is, and instead of all those other parents who pay around $10 a month for their kids cellphone and can call them up, you have to go into a panic attack and drive all over looking for them.

I agree wholeheartedly. Maybe your one word could have been an actual English word, though. *grin*

pei-chen, half of 11 year olds are having sex? Are you serious? I don't know where you live, but it's not like that anywhere around where I live.

Good ol culture dominance.

I bet Im the only 21 year old in california that can afford to have a cell phone that doesn't have one and doesn't care and has never had a cell phone.

you probably are.

I work at Sprint and my daughter has been bugging me since she was 9 for a cell phone. Finally two years later I decided to get her one since it is so cheap for me (since I work here), there's no contract for me to agree to, and I got a great deal on the phone.

It has actually turned out to be quite handy to be honest since she's been doing babysitting and whatnot as well... I thought I would be turning it off after a few months.

I had to get my license and then a job for my parents to buy me a cell phone (which I got as my christmas present) and I've paid for the bill ever since. I think the kid should at least be able to pay the monthly bill before they get a cell phone. As for the little kids who just use it as an emergency/call mom phone, I don't think that's too terrible. If the parent is willing to pay extra to know where their kids are, then that's up to them.

This is where the scout master, aka an adult, would call the parents to let them know about a change. There is absolutely no reason any child under the driving age should have a cell phone. Kids have enough distractions as it is.

Now we know where all the iPhone users came from... =|

as a parent myself i'm not getting my daughter a cell phone until she has her provisional license

Well WTF? I Didn't get a phone until I was 18... because I payed for it , and payed the monthly bill. -.- AND , my phone ended up being one of those ancient bricks (still the same one) That you can barely get sound out of. Why do other parents feel the need to spoil they're child?

6 year olds with cell phones... why?

I understand giving a child a cell for emergency situations, and I don't give a damn about this 'blah blah responsiblility' thing. Just fine some form of proper discipline if they rack up a $50 bill (like a friend who thought it'd be a good idea to buy over $100 in ringtones).

Now I don't believe in big brother, you need to get a few scratches on your own to learn, but I know when I was younger there were certainly times I needed to phone for help.

Kids don't need cellphones.I think kids are controlled by cellphones.I mean by that is they spend to much time in texting and calling each other, that they don't do a lot of other thing besides that. Every where I go, I see kids using cellphones. Even in the movie theater. They sre good for if you work in a Health care profession for example.

fail

in the end - its the parents call to make, they are the ones paying the bill, and are (supposed to be) the ones raising the child.

But IMO even 10-12 is too young for their OWN cellphone.

my son has had a cell phone since he was about 6 or 7. It's very handy since he can always call us from school, we save time when we're picking him up by calling ahead and telling him to get ready and now that he's 11, he is more independent and it's comforting to us parents that we're never more than a phone call apart. These days, it only costs us $9.99 a month for that level of piece of mind (well, I also have unlimited texting but that's for everyone on my plan, and I use it more than even my son, since I use it for work). When my daughter turns 6 or 7, I'll probably start her off with the Firefly I bought for $5. They can only pick what's free on contract and if they lose it, they don't get a replacement. But my son has never permanently lost his phone and now that he's got a nice LG xenon, he's even more careful with it. If you can teach them when it's appropriate to use the phone, I think it's fine that they have them.

Well then you must not be a part of scouts.

When scouts have there own cell phones, it makes it easy for the adults by not have to call so many parents about updates. The thing we say in scouts "is use what you have". Well things get easier and done faster when scouts call the parents, letting them know there going to be late/early ect.

It's like quad core cpus. 1 core (1 person using a cell phone) can do the job fine but it goes faster when you use all 4 cores (cell phones).

Back in 2008 when i went to philmont with my troop, some parents were wanting there child to give them daily updates of where there currently at. an adult wont have time to do that. They got enough thing to worry about like keeping track where all the scouts are at and non of them getting hurt. The biggest help with cell phones was letting the pickup drivers/parents know we would be a few hours late due to Mississippi and Missouri river being flooded. (amtrack doesn't let trains cross bridges over rivers that are flooded.)

Just saying there no reason for anyone under driving age to have a cell phone is dumb.

Maybe dumb if that child isn't doing outdoor activities but when a child is doing something hundreds or thousands miles away, cell phones can be useful.

As for distractions, i think us adults have more distraction than than the kids.

Kids below driving age dont have to worry about driving, they dont have to worry about losing a job, they dont have to worry about bills, they dont have to worry about taxes, they dont have to keep watch of kids (thats are job), shall i continue?

I have an 11 year old and this comment really is right on. my wife and I make a point to volunteer at the school, meet our children's friends and most of the time, their friend's parents. We teach our kids about responsibility re: the net, the cell phone, etc. and while I know they'll come across porn and violence and have to make choices about that kind of stuff, we try to teach them to avoid it if they can. It's kinda like pot- it seems like everyone tries it out, but very few actually become potheads. i'm sure my son either has come across or will come across porn and drugs and violence at some point, but I'm hoping the way I raise him will help him avoid it when he is presented a choice.

I know, it is crazy...i don't get it at all.

I think its funny though, how the chart only goes up to 40%, giving the high bars look higher...got to love propaganda XD

It will be interesting to see if these new reports on the link between brain cancer and cell phones are true. All of these kids starting to use cell phones around 10 will probably have brain cancer by 20 or 30...

Interesting world we live in.

You neglected to note that you have to be at least 14 years old to go to Philmont. I also know that the phone coverage out on the trail is practically non-existant (except on mountains) and isn't adequate enough for daily calls. When I went with my dad a while back, we called my family twice on the trail, once on Trail Peak and once on Mt. Phillips.
As for weekend camp outs, younger kids with cellphones is a nightmare. I can't even tell you how many times we've confiscated cellphones from "prank-calling" 10-12 year-olds. I spent a whole night once listening to "*dial* ohmygosh that's a real number! *hangup* *dial* ohmygosh that's a real number!" etc.
It does not matter if each individual has a phone if the adults that are driving have a phone. There's plenty of time for three boys (five-seat vehicle) to call during an hour drive home. The amount of time saved, the "cost" vs performance ratio, is not worth it. Would you buy a core i7-975 Extreme for a little performance gain?

I didn't get a cellphone until I was 15, and that was only because I started high school and was more out on my own, even then I rarely was able to use it. I survived without one and my parents never died of worry.