With back-to-school buying just around the corner, smartphones cornering the teen-age market and word circulating that children may be learning to operate cellphones before they learn to tie their shoes, parents are facing an ever more complex decision:
What's the right age to give kids a cellphone?
Below, we'll ask you to share your policy, but first, here's a brief look at what some experts think.
In response to other stories we've run on msnbc.com, plenty of parents say they keep phones out of their kids' hands until they can drive or until they get to college. Perhaps. But study after study tells a different story. Here's one: Research firm IDC says seven out of 10 kids aged 10 to 14 have phones. Here's another:
Pew says one out of three 12-year-olds frequently text their friends, while only one out of four frequently talk face to face.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Never. They should earn it both through action s and working to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteWe have a 12 yo boy and a 10 yo girl and they both have their own cell phones and laptops...
ReplyDeleteI think kids should not have them, period.
ReplyDeleteNever!
ReplyDeleteWhy would you want to give your children the keys to sexting
We have a 12 yo boy and a 10 yo girl and they both have their own cell phones and laptops...
ReplyDeleteJuly 22, 2011 10:22 PM
And?
Never!
ReplyDeleteWhy would you want to give your children the keys to sexting
July 23, 2011 7:58 AM
lmao. u watch too much t.v.
never, they can wait until they can get their own.
ReplyDeleteWe gave our son a cell phone at 12 years old when he started walking to and from school everyday. More for safety than anything.
ReplyDeleteWe gave our son a cell phone at 12 years old when he started walking to and from school everyday. More for safety than anything.
ReplyDeleteJuly 23, 2011 9:52 AM
We have a winner. Best answer so far.