What item is pretty much guaranteed to be within grabbing distance at all times? The cell phone is the obvious answer because it is definitely a must for most people and is constantly recruiting more users. The age group for users that seems to never stop expanding is those tweens. You know, the not-quite teenagers that act like they’ve been adults for years. The age of first time cell-phone users is getting younger and younger. “Some 6.6 million of the 20 million American children in that age range had cell phones by the end of 2006, according to an analysis by the Yankee Group, a technology consulting firm in Boston, which projects there will be 10.5 million preteen cell phone users by 2010” (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/fashion/29cell.html). Obviously, this infiltration of technology into our youth is not stopping, but should it?
Some parents reason that they are willing to buy cell phones for their tweens (and even for children as young as 6) for their own peace of mind. With today’s two-career households, split-custody arrangements, Amber alerts, color-coded terror threat levels, and busy schedules on the parents’ and children’s end, the cell phone will allow the parents to always have contact with their children and vice versa. However, are these young children ready for such responsibility? Pediatrics recently tested children 10 to 11 year olds and determined that their pedestrian safety was compromised (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/e179). Plus, kids destroy or lose their toys all the time. Would a cell phone be any different?
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Children as young as 6 are getting cell phones these days? That is absolutely ridiculous. I didn't get a cell phone until I was 15! My parents' position was that I didn't really need a cell phone until I started driving on my own. If I had car problems, they thought, being able to call someone would be crucial. However, before I started driving I got along just fine without a cell phone. Sure, there were times when having one would have been convenient, but I never found myself in dire need. Furthermore, I question the maturity levels in "tweens" is sufficient for them to use cell phones. For example, I have a 12-year-old sister who has a cell phone and I have witnessed first hand the drama that can ensue when middle school girls get into a texting war over boys, name calling, etc.
ReplyDeleteyes gossip is on the rise lol but i think with moderation this fad is ok. disney has phones which have only preprogramed numbers in it that the parents put in so that the children can only call their parents or other trusted adults which is good. i think alot of our resentment comes from envy. ive certainly felt it. i got my first phone when i was 14 and i got it from a friend out of pity. making it even worse is when people would ask me why did i bring my house phone to school. but yeah i think that the disney phones are acceptable but anything else is a little scary.
ReplyDeleteSix years old, eh? That's pretty young. I don't believe there is any reason anyone under the age of 13 needs a cell phone. Thirteen seems to young even. I, like Kyle, received my first cell phone at the lovely age of 15 when I started driving for the same reasoning as Kyle's parents. I had wanted a phone earlier than that because my mom required that I call her if I were to ever leave the house she dropped me off at and that becomes a hassle when you have to tell your friends, "Oh WAIT! We can't run off and go do something spontaneously, I have to call my mom and make sure it's ok!" This situation is even more frustrating when you don't even want to go far at all. With that in mind I can see someone as young as 13 needing a cell phone, but not younger.
ReplyDeleteI'm the oldest of 3 kids. I got a phone when I was 15 also. My sister got one at the same time. She was 13. The next year my youngest sister got one. She was 8. It was pretty crazy and she barely even used it. Now she's 11 and she's on it almost as much as me. I don't think it has hurt her at all to get a phone so early. It makes it easier for whoever is picking her up from wherever she needs to go.
ReplyDeleteOne of my brother's eight-year-old friends got a cell phone this past Christmas. We were all very shocked. My brother wanted a phone, but we explained that he is way too young to have a phone. I looked at the family situation though and realized that his friend really does need the phone because his parents are too busy with his other siblings and their jobs to be with him all the time. They once dropped him off at my house thinking that we were home, and when I pulled in the driveway, he said that he had been sitting there for nearly three hours. This is the main reason that they got him a phone. I think that parents in this digital world feel like they have to have constant contact with their children simply because they are really not as involved in their children's lives as they should be.
ReplyDeleteI understand everyone's points and for the most part I completely agree. However, just to play devil's advocate, what do you think our parents thought when just a few years after the first cell phone came out - which only the rich and obviously older could afford - our friends around us (and we ourselves) were getting cell phones at age 15? I understand the arguments (like I said, just playing devil's advocate), but is there any chance that we just feel this way because it seems foreign to us to conceive of having a cell phone at the age of 8? I got my first cell phone when I was turning 14 and my sister 16 (same birthday). My parents bought her a car and felt bad since it was my birthday also, so they got me a phone earlier than my two older siblings. Thinking back, I had no reason to even have a phone. I simply got it out of sympathy. But at that moment I believed with everything in me that I DESERVED that cell phone and more importantly really needed it! I'm sure children with phones would insist the same today. With cell phones getting cheaper and cheaper and technology getting better and better, we have to expect these kind of "bizarre" changes. I think we're all just having trouble accepting that it's about (if not already) our time to start telling the "back in my day" stories.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the post regarding "disney" phones. I think there certainly is a reason to provide children with a communication device, especially with so many two-career households. However, I think a cell phone is a device that requires a fair amount of maturity, especially camera phones!! So "disney" phones (or I remember "firefly" phones, that only accepted pre-programmed numbers such as mom, dad, and siblings) are the perfect compromise! Kids get there phone, parents get there peace of mind, and everybody's happy!
ReplyDeleteI thought that the Disney phones and "firefly" phones sounded like a great idea, too; however, several of the articles discussed that these phones are not appealing to the tween age group. Apparently, they feel like they are being treated like children, and they want to be adults. So, some parents cave in, and buy "adult" phones for their kids.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.commercialexploitation.org/news/hotnewcellmarket.htm