Should kids have cell phones?

What was then is not what is now. There is a generation that grew up without cell phones, without the internet and without cable television. There is a generation that experienced the world before the world wide web, digital television and cell phones but was able to watch this technology be born. I grew up without the internet but watched this information superhighway develop while I was in my early twenties. I can relate to both sides. My first cell phone was a "bag phone" from GTE Mobilnet that my boyfriend, now husband, gave me while I was still in college. I was only 20 years old then. I was old enough to pay attention to minutes and to use this piece of brand new technology carefully.
Today if you don't have a cell phone, you are in the minority. Even pay phones are hard to find. "The mobile phone radically transforms the soundscape." (Gitlin, 2001. p. 58). Whether you are in an office, at a kids sporting event or even at a school, that all too familar cell phone ring will more than likely go off at one of those places. It is not just adults looking down to see if it is their cell phone ringing, now it's teenagers and even pre-teens, sometimes kids younger than 12. How young is too young for a cell phone?
Try being the parent that is responsible for making the decision on whether or not to give a ten year old child that cell phone for safety reasons. "Cell phones aren't helpful solely to parents whose kids travel an hour each way to school on public transit. They're also a boon for suburban parents who know too well the danger of getting stuck in traffic on the way to pick up your child, and whose kids bounce between extracurricular activities." (S.S., 2006, p. 40) As a parent, I am getting judged because my daughter who is only 10 years old has had a cell phone for over a year. The concerns I hear from others are concerns that I have solutions for.

"The Sprint, Verizon, and Disney Mobile services let you track your kids' location on a map. Using either a Web browser or your own phone. Disney even lets you restrict calls by time of day. (No texting under the sheets after lights-out!)" (S.S.,2006, p. 40) Cell phone technology has come so far that involved parents can give their child this luxary because the parents still have control. As a parent, I can easily see incoming calls, outgoing calls, how many texts. Because we as the parents technically pay for my 10 year old's phone, I feel I can look within her phone at my leisure, my husband can do the same and she knows that this is part of the deal.

I have gotten to experience what it feels like to trust my child with such advanced technology. The only action she has really been disciplined for, is leaving the house without her phone. She has not gone over her minutes, ever, she has never called a number that I did not agree with and she has yet to give me attitude when I want to check her text messages. She knows that she can either hand it over to me, or I can use the latest technology to track her cell phone behavior. "Phone location services aren't for tracking rebellious teenagers, who will likely just turn off the phone and forward calls to another number. They are for kids who want to be found—the 11-year-old taking the city bus to school, or even the reasonable 15-year-old who is doing a community service project in a tough neighborhood and wants to know that Dad can find her if necessary. Locator phones make a great addition to a parent-child relationship already based on trust." (S.S., 2006, p. 41) The world is changing by the day and so should our attitudes as parents. Being able to call my daughter whenever I want and she'll answer allows me to rest a whole lot easier when she is at the park, at a friend's house or simply in our front yard.

References:

Gitlin, T. (2001). Media unlimited: How the torrent of images and sounds overwhelms
our lives. New York: Metropolitan Books.

Postman, N. (1993). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology.
New York: Vintage

S. S. (2006, September 5). Cell phones and services for kids. PC Magazine, 25, 40-41.