Electronics Discussions

Elayne you make some good points but I think times have changed a lot.  I didn't get a cell phone until college but times are quickly becoming more and more dangerous.  Of course, when I do give my kid a cell phone, it will be locked down so all they can do is call a select list of phone numbers (i.e. me, my husband, grandma, 911).  Texting and cameras will be turned off for sure.  But I still think having it is important now-a-days.  It's a crazy world we live in and it's getting crazier by the minute.

I gave my daughter a cell phone when she was 12. She was told that it was mainly for emergency use and given a set of rules that she has kept. She didn't start texting until recently when she started grade 9. She does not use the phone during school hours. I trust her but I also check usage online. :-))

I believe it all depends on the individual child and family dynamics. My kids- 10, 14, and 17 have their own phones. But we have texting and internet access turned off on the 14 and 17 yr olds' phones. And the 10 yr old has a trac phone, for emergencies only, when he's out playing with his friends or over at anothers' house. That way if he ever needs or wants to call home for anything he can and not worry about using someone else's phone. Our 17 yr old has abused his phone a few times and has had it taken away. When he realized it wasn't much fun to lose his phone by going over his allowed minutes, he's curbed his usage. And they are NOT allowed to have their phones on at school. We check their incoming/outgoing to be sure. They've tried deleting their logs too, so we wouldn't know...but that's why they make online bill checks. We caught them at their own lie that way before. They don't delete their logs anymore!

It's a valuable tool and in some households almost a necessity when both parents work and other family members aren't around to offer valuable assist. 

That said, so many children have cell phone today you don't Have to give your kid a cell phone too early.  

It would be nice if parents limit texting which is being abused in many ways.. some disturbing and inappropriate for minors.

CountryMama, you know what you are doing there :)  Give it but track it closely and let them know they can't get away with abusing their phone privileges :)

Chris, texting and photos on phones for kids is such a scary concept.  I don't know why more parents do not block this from their kids phones.  I see so many stories about kids who got into some trouble over all of this stuff.  Recently there was a story about two girls getting into a texting war which led to a fist fight.  Granted, they might have fought even without the texting, but things like texting just makes it easier to get into that situation.

My 11 year old wants a cell phone and I will not let him have one yet. I told him when he could show me that he is responsible enough to take care of one, and that he would be willing to help pay for the bill then he could have one. I think that when kids get things handed to them they take for granite what they have, Right now he is at the that point that he know he needs to work for his money and he does, but he hasn't learned that if you want something or need something that you need to save the money you have to pay for that item and not just go to the nearest store and spend it on what ever you can , because you have money in your pocket. So at this point I am thinking that when he is 13, he will be ready for a phone that is used for emergence's only, and not just to have so he can look cool.

My ex-girlfriend's family just bought their 6 year old a cell phone. And from what I understand she prank calls everyone simply because she can.

Children don't understand limitation. Any and all limits are bad things that are used for punishment. And because of the declining average age of those who recieve cell phones it is getting harder to satisfy ones child.

I myself didn't have a cell phone til I was 17 and now I'm 18. I for one never had the deepset urge to have a cell phone but then again, I was homeschooled...

Simple answer, yes. There needs to be a minimum age for an unrestricted cell phone. Personally I would say no younger than 13. 11 or 12 only under certain circumstances and that being said I'll ditto a few people here and agree that the programmable cell phones would be best for that age bracket.

I think the appropriate to when a child should get a cell phone is 15/16 years old because children are normally active in school sports and the parents should be able to reach them after practices. I also think that if a parent buy their child(ren) a cell phone around this age, rules and guidelines should be discussed first about what he or she can do with the phone, especially texting and picture taking. I also think parents should put a limit to texting a month, and only use the phone when it is free or if it is a emergency to keep he or she from going over their plan each month.

I agree, times have changed and programming a phone for a select list of numbers is a great idea if a parent has a concern with safety.

My daughter is 8 and I gave her my old prepaid cell phone not too long ago. MISTAKE! She has 4 numbers preset on the phone. Our home phone number, Her 2 grandmothers and her aunts number. I say...Okay you can only call these people and you have this many minutes and won't get more until next week. So she takes the phone outside with her sister who is 6 and they keep looking back through the sliding glass door from the deck, I get up wondering what those girls are doing...go outside they hide the phone..like I couldnt see them do it and when I see who they called I ran for the house phone! 911!! I called the local 911 operator and told them what had happened and they had to send an officer anyway! I was sooo appologetic and my daughter will not have a cell phone until she's 10 then we can try again. I feel that if you are a busy parent and your kid may not have a way home from school or is at a babysitter or just out and about a lot in general they should have one for emergency purposes at any age as long as they are responsible and do not call 911 for silly reasons. I was a landlord at a busy Townhome about 3 years ago and one of my tenants had a little girl in Kindergarden and she had this little green cell phone..she was 5! Thats too young in my opinion!!! Whats wrong with some of these mothers giving kids cell phones so young!

I agree with you, that it shuld be on each individual child. And, it must to be for emergensy only.

It will be nice, if sientist can make a thing like a sellphone but withaut text messaging and any games on it.

It depends on the maturity of the child. I would say when the child reaches high school.

As I've said earlier, it really depends on your child and the circumstances.  Parents should know their child and whether or not they're ready for and in need of a phone.

I'm sure that most of the parents whose children acted poorly when given a phone weren't really all that surprised.

I think it depends on their maturity level and if they have any afterschool activities that you cannot be there with them. Basically if you cannot be somewhere with your child, and they are mature, they should have one. My daughter is 13 and she has one.

When they are old enough to pay the bill themselves and appreciate the value of having one. I didn't get one until I was 19, and that was only upon my parents' insistance because my drive to college involved a lot of "highways" that didn't see much traffic. I survived just fine through high school simply using the landline and making pre-arrangements with my parents about pick up and drop off times.

njchicaa said…

I'm a teacher and I have a daily battle with cell phone use in my classroom.  I really really reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wish that parents would take a look at the numbers of incoming and outgoing texts that are sent during school hours.  They are the #1 distraction for high school students in class. 

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I wholeheartedly agree with you on this.  I'm not sure what parents think their kids do in school with their cell phones, but simply having them in case of an emergency sure is not one of them.

What are your class policies regarding cell phone use, and if you do have rules, do your students follow them?  What actions are you allowed by the administration to deal with those that break the rules?

 

At my daughter's Middle School, students are not allowed to use their phones during school hours.  If caught, the phone is confiscated and may only be returned to a parent.  Amazing how well this system works.

As fror my daughter I think it only fair to say that she is extremely responsible when it comes to using her cell phone.  I have yet to experience an end of the month surprise from her.  My wife could take a lesson from her.

My opinion has always been that kids only need phones when they start driving - pay-as-you-go phones make it easy to give them a limit and let them deal with the consequences. Before that...eh, not really necessary. I didn't get a phone until college, mainly because we didn't need them.

If we needed to call my parents for whatever the reason, we had to use either a calling card/money from a payphone.

RudiXeno said…

At my daughter's Middle School, students are not allowed to use their phones during school hours.  If caught, the phone is confiscated and may only be returned to a parent.  Amazing how well this system works.

As fror my daughter I think it only fair to say that she is extremely responsible when it comes to using her cell phone.  I have yet to experience an end of the month surprise from her.  My wife could take a lesson from her.

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When I was in middle school, it was called "junior high" and cell phones, if they existed at all, were in cars owned by the rich and famous.  The small ones we have now would have seemed to have been straight out of Star Trek.