Let me start off by saying I like to think I'm tech savvy.  I love my Japanese gadget phone, my iPod, my PC and laptop.  I spend too much time online and playing with electronic gadgets.

But I can't come to grips with young kids and cell phones and $300 iPods.  I can't imagine buying my 12 year old cell phone.  I know a few people who just PCS'd here, and one of their first stops was to buy cell phones for their 10 year old kids.  Am I too old fashioned to think that's just silly?  Am I missing the big picture on why a 10 year old needs a cell phone?  Help me understand!

The good and sensible reason parents buy their kids cellphones is so they can keep in touch when they are not together. But if you give your youngster a fancy expensive cellphone with many accessories, I think it'll spoil them like crazy. Where I'm living right now? Even kindergarten students have Samsungs and Sony Ericssons! Whaddup wit dat?! Haha!

Really, the situation is simple, Tirani. The way it looks, cellphones were once necessities that are now more of an accessory these days. And many kids love accessories. There's nothing wrong with loving electronics and the trends. But I seriously think parents should teach kids the true purpose of cellphones, the possible dangers and such before giving them the fancies, or else they will use their cellphones as toys and toys only. Furthermore, I think it's better that a kid's first cellphone should just be simple with no extra uneeded (but most of the time wanted by the kids...) features.

And I wonder what is the fave thing kids talk about with friends through cellphones. What if.. *gasps* What if it's nothing to do with what's hot and what's not? Stay alert parents and guardians and save your children before it's too late! ... Anyways, that's my opinions in the matters of cellphones being given to them little ones.

I guess that most parents don't read the rules for supervison of thier kids. There is a thread on here somewhere about the rules of watching thier kids. I know that I won't get my son one till he starts to contribute to the bill. So I guess he won't get one till he is over 15. That is in 4 more years.

I don't plan on getting mine a phone until he's driving and/or in a lot of extracurricular activities where i have to pick him up late from school (in case it's cancelled, etc, he can then just call me).

That being said, I can see why people whose kids do sports at age 10 might get them one, but the problem I have is that people think it makes their kid "safer" so they drop off their 10 year old and her friends at the mall thinking "They'll call if they need me," and then the kid is vulnerable to much more than they should be.

We all survived without phones growing up, and looking back I'm glad I didn't. As a teacher we have to deal with kids taking pics of their tests and messaging them out, texting in class, etc. And I think that kids' grammar and spelling are worse now because they use phrases like "thx" and "brb" all day long instead of just saying what they mean... but that's just me

I was at the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka the other day and I saw a boy, maybe 4-5 years max. complaining to his mother that he didn't know how to work an iPhone that he was holding! (No kidding.)

It's sad when stories of minors getting into "accidents" from eyeballing people they first met only by means of texting go on news. And it's not just cellphones I know that. It's either the parents don't properly keep track of what their kids do with their cellphones, or the minors themselves are just good at hiding. That being said, cellphones should definitely wait until the minors can afford the phone themselves. Besides, last i checked, most of the time, minors are only not with family when they are on base for reasons suich as school or something. If something happens that wasn't expected, they could just call their family or friends through landline.

DoCoMo makes cell phones specifically for kids around the elementary age. They are very simple phones that you pre-program in numbers and have GPS tracking. If you ask me...d#$ned nifty idea! I agree though..no child needs a phone that can play games, take photos, browse the Internet and send email.

I could see getting a phone like the DoCoMo phone for my kids --young kids. It'd be something they'd return to me everyday and get back before school started though.

My parents got me my first phone when I started driving in the '90s. It was pretty much for emergencies and quick calls to let them know updates. I didn't get anything fancy until I started paying for one. Which is the plan I'm so going to follow for my kids.

I can't imagine having a smart phone when I first started driving. My CD player distracted me enough, lol.

Yeah, I've seen phones like DoCoMo, sadly, many parents go on and give their kids the more expensive ones anyways. *shakes head* And to comment on Tirani mentioning kids having iPods, that's not as bad. But I would definitely advise that a minor's first mp3/multimedia player be not an Apple product. Not even the Zune. Hehe, the Zune. But I guess the iPod shuffle can be acceptable for a first mp3 player. iPod shuffles can only play music right?