Little kids with Cell Phones

[-Xero-]

Lately I've been seeing lots of kids in the single digit age with "Fancy" cell phones. To me this kind of irritates me, since most of us didn't get our cell phones till, what? When we were 13 or so?

What do you think of this?

 

[Linkachu]

I honestly don't like the idea of children, let alone younger teenagers, having cell phones. I get that parents are paranoid these days and the phones are for extra security, but if that's the case... does your 8 year old really need a shiny new iPhone? Because that eight year old sure as hell doesn't have the cash to be paying for it themselves.

It's a fad, and not really a good one either. Parents supporting said fad are not doing their children any favours. =|

 

[Doctor Oak]

I don't think it's fair to really base our experience on what age to get a mobile on since when I was 13 and got my first phone, they were still really new things - I got a massive brick of a phone with a two line monochrome screen that just about managed to call and text people, let alone even considering doing anything else with it.

Ultimately, it depends on the child and the situation. I don't see any real need for a primary school child to own a phone of any kind unless their parents are so absent as to barely ever be there at all. Once you get to secondary school and you're gonna be going out with friends, staying out later and later and needing an easy way to contact home if nothing else, then that's fine - though I'd find it hard to justify a contract phone or the £300-£500 cost for an unlocked/PAYG smart phone. If a kid wants a smart phone, they should save their own money for it.

 

[Secad MS]

I don't have a cell phone of any sort. However, if I did, I would get a smart phone simply for the internet and games.

On the topic of little kids with them, I think it is nutty. It encourages inappropriate behavior (of various sorts) and makes them think they deserve expensive things. However, I can understand if the kid saved up for over a year for it and have some sort of payment plan with the parents, as well as a good reason for a phone. My little sister got a Wii that way.

 

[Brendan Savem]

It makes me feel bad to see children going around with an entire fortune in their pockets while I still have an eight-year-old Nokia that could fall apart any second. Personally, whatever the child may think, it's a violation of privacy on the child's behalf. The parents want to know what their children are doing all the time, and that's why they get the best phone to guarantee that it won't randomly fail like their own phones, just so they have the ability to keep interrupting their kids in their daily life. When the kids finally see through the shiny phone and find out about this, like in one unfortunate time I've witnessed, they have a whole argument with the parents, quite often on the phone, and then their relationship is never the same again.

So, in a sense, we've lowered the age a child becomes a teenager. At the age that they still should be cuddling up by their parents at night, they already want to hang out with their friends in a club or party. That will have a lasting repercussions on future generations too. Just imagine babies, fresh from the womb, out clubbing while we are in our retirement homes, watching the world fall apart before our crusty eyes. That's not right.

 

[SJ]

I think it makes me feel old more than anything! I reluctantly had an old (about third hand) Nokia 310 in the latter years of school 'just in case'. If I needed a pickup, I could generally walk the mile or so home before it had warmed up to the point of being able to make a call. It was only when I got to university that I actually needed one, so I'd like to know what these kids are doing with them.

 

[Jenova]

I honestly don't like the idea of children, let alone younger teenagers, having cell phones. I get that parents are paranoid these days and the phones are for extra security, but if that's the case... does your 8 year old really need a shiny new iPhone? Because that eight year old sure as hell doesn't have the cash to be paying for it themselves.

It's a fad, and not really a good one either. Parents supporting said fad are not doing their children any favours. =|

I agree with this 100%, although it would kind of be ironic for me to say that, considering that I was 11 when I had my first phone. (This would be about 2-3 years ago ) Also, within this period of time, I've had 3 phones so far xD However, all of my phones have been used for a considerable amount of time.

It's really irritating when I see kids or peers go around with their shiny, new phones. What's worse is when they break and they go, "OH MY GOD! THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING!" and then within the following week, they have an even better phone and brag about that :| Like, wtf?

I do need my phone, actually, because in both homes that I live in, there had been some trouble with the nearby neighborhoods. What's more is that I need to have my grandma's number at all times because I'm worried at what might happen to her. However, everyone else at my school lives near the school area, where if you try to bust open a window, expect 20 grown men stomping you down on the sidewalk and 5 nuns hitting you with fish. So I really don't see the point.

In all, it really is about the circumstances.

 

[Phanes]

I understand wanting the IN phone, gotta have what everyone's craving these days, but little kids having them? My first phone was a single piece, non-flipping phone that didn't even have color, it was small and a piece of crap. But it got me through the first job I had and even some through the 2nd before we had the chance to upgrade to another piece of crap phone. If they need extra security Linkachu said, that's fine, but iphones? They need to be at least having a job to want it because some of those extra and unnecessary features for security better be paid for.

Especially just for the bragging rights? Fuck that, if it's for popularity, a POS phone is what you get before you get a job for your own money.

 

[dafg 猫君]

First graders with blackberries.... that explains it

 

[Louie Forest]

It makes sense to me, but doesn't at the same time. Kids should have cell phones because they need to be in touch with their parents a lot in case anything goes wrong, but it's a bad thing because little kids lose these kind of things REALLY easily. My friend had lost 6 mobile phones in 2 years. :|

 

[gyarados35]

I had a phone(free one from the company) which I only use to talk rarely and not to friends anyway. I do not believe the youth should give millions of USD's to the phone companies "texting" instead of just simply calling in case they really need to talk.

Also, I would like give my congratulations to the creators of virtual pets of all companies and creators for sending millions of man-hours into pointless lifeless pixels in a screen.

 

[Demelza]

I've never had a phone and I'm almost 17.... But, I think that's fair enough. I have no /real/ need for one and I'm fussy about my parents wasting money on me which they would be with a phone. If I ever need to keep in touch with them as I'm going out somewhere for awhile (which is rare), dad has a pay as you go mobile which he lends me. And to be honest I think that's a decent idea.

Kids shouldn't have phones so young unless you can tell me they really do need them to keep in touch with their parents. Sometimes this ma be the case, but not always and we're spoiling kids letting them have phones so young. And it's just plan wrong, kids of 7-9 etc should still be getting bed time stories and their nightly cuddle not on phones texting friends. XD

 

[KoL]

Gyarados35 gets a warning for gravedigging. Please check the date on the latest post in topics next time or there will be more where that came from. Also read the rules.

Topic locked.