Was reading a PC Magazine article this morning about cellphones and mobile services for kids — including one phone identified as “the perfect first phone for the 5-9 crowd.”
Yikes.
So, does Katherine need a cell phone? Hrm. Not yet, I don’t think. I mean, it would be nice if she could contact us (or vice-versa) whenever needed, but it’s not critical as yet (we know where she is, and there are usually phone available). We don’t need her persistently phone-tethered (and GPSed) to us just yet.
And, of course, I don’t know that I’d trust her with a $50- $100 cell phone. She still loses things too easily.
Still, the current crop of kid-friendly phones — usually with convenient ways to restrict numbers dialed, or what services (if any) are enabled, sometimes by time, are pretty funky. And I suspect this will be one of those “No, we don’t need to do this” things that suddenly turns around into a “Wow, we really need to this” to a “How did we ever live without this?” things very quickly.
I wonder to what extent the companies developing these new markets are promoting ‘hanging a piece of technology on your kid’ as a substitute for mentoring them on personal safety? Already I have seen news reports of people calling their friends/parents/SIG’s when they should have been running for their lives or calling the cops.
The woman whose car hit a train, and was being dragged down the track while she frantically called her mother, comes to mind.
My 16-year-old son refers to his cell phone as his leash. Which is fine with me, so long as he keeps it turned on.
See, I think 16 is a fine age for having a cell phone.
Question is, where’s the tipping point between 6 and 16 …?