How old were you when you got your first cell phone (spinoff of texting thread)

[austin&pipermom]

I was 16, I turn 28 this sun. I got a flip phone on my 16th birthday, my mom said since I can drive alone now she need to keep tabs on me.

 

[MouseketeerOvaHere]

I was 17, after my mom passed my dad wanted us to have ways to get a hold of one another.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

To me it's not so much your age but the year you got a cellphone.
It's amazing in the last 10 years how the industry has grown.

I got mine in 1998 and that was because I was stuck on the train and couldn't call my kids school to tell them I would be late.
Many people in my office joked with me on why I needed it. Within 6 months they all had one.

Just 6 years ago my older DD waited until the 7th grade to get one. According to her half of the class had them before her. Three years later my younger DD got hers at the end of 5th grade. Now 8 year olds have them.

 

[NMAmy]

I was 40 and dd was 13. We got them at the same time--in 2003.

I do remember my ex's dad had the enormous Gordon Gecko type phone during the late 80's.

 

[AlienBrain]

16 when I started driving. That was the year 2000 to give you some perspective. The cool phones back then were the nokia bar phones with the monochrome type. Batteries lasted so long on those phones compared to the crazy phones out nowadays.

 

[cybrkitn]

30 and pregnant with DS, now 7. We didn't have cell phones in the 80's when I was a teenager.

 

[MoonFaerie]

To me it's not so much your age but the year you got a cellphone.
It's amazing in the last 10 years how the industry has grown.

I got mine in 1998 and that was because I was stuck on the train and couldn't call my kids school to tell them I would be late.
Many people in my office joked with me on why I needed it. Within 6 months they all had one.

Just 6 years ago my older DD waited until the 7th grade to get one. According to her half of the class had them before her. Three years later my younger DD got hers at the end of 5th grade. Now 8 year olds have them.

I agree. It's just not a valid comparison from when I was in high school and now. I got my 1st cell phone in 1998; I was 18. I can think of maybe 2-3 people that had those car bag phone things in high school, but that's it. Quite a few of us did have pagers though.

It's the same with computers though, not that many people had their own when we went to college. I knew a dozen our so with huge desktops that were so slow. Signing on to AOL took like 5 mins. Now everyone has laptops and high speed internet.

Or dvd players, music (we were still rocking to cassette tapes in high school!), cameras, etc. Technology has just been advancing a lot.

 

[laurie31]

To me it's not so much your age but the year you got a cellphone.

Excellent point!

I was 23. The year was 1991.

I was dating my now-DH and he was very worried about me driving home from work at 1:00am after one of my co-workers was abducted from her apartment (right next to mine! ). He insisted I have a phone in my car, and bought it for me.

My kids have asked me what age I was when I got a phone (I guess hoping to gain some ammo into why THEY should have one) and were SHOCKED that I was out of college. Then I had to explain that there WERE no cell phones before that. Well, in the late 80's there were those very large, very expensive "car phones" and then the bag phones, but they were seen as luxury items or something only for businessmen to use for work. Cleaning out the garage this summer, I found an old phone from the late 90's. Way smaller than my first phone, but still the size and weight of a brick - lol. The kids were more shocked by that than by our old record collection - lol.

Oh, and I never had a phone in my room!

 

[onelilspark]

I was 16 (24 now.) My parents got one for me because I was driving myself to and from school & work. In case I broke down, etc. I did use to it call friends, but I don't think I ever texted until I was in college!

16: 2001...

18, got a new phone, 2003...that had texting on it. Didn't actually enable "unlimited" until 2007, I was a senior in college. I still don't text that much. I have a blackberry for work and I hate it.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I had one of those bag phones when they first came out to use in case my clunker broke down (and it did get used. LOL). I can't remember the year.

DS got his first when last year when he was 12. I got it for him after he got stranded at an after school thing because the neighbor who was supposed to pick him up when she picked up her son forgot about him. I was sure not amused by that mistake!

 

[scrapquitler]

It was 1996, I was 29 and pregnant with my first child. DH worked far away from home and was often not in his office. I got a cellphone so that I could call him no matter where I was and he got a beeper, so I could contact him...there were no 'family plans' at that time and we saw no reason to pay for two cell phones. Everyone else in my family thought we were wierd...none of them had a cellphone or a beeper, and couldn't imagine why people would want a cellphone!

That was a long time ago.

 

[FireDancer]

In 1997 I was 19 and working at a place that sold cell phones. I got one after I was able to pass my own credit check and was responsible for the bill myself.

 

[RadioNate]

To me it's not so much your age but the year you got a cellphone.
It's amazing in the last 10 years how the industry has grown.

I got mine in 1998 and that was because I was stuck on the train and couldn't call my kids school to tell them I would be late.
Many people in my office joked with me on why I needed it. Within 6 months they all had one.

Just 6 years ago my older DD waited until the 7th grade to get one. According to her half of the class had them before her. Three years later my younger DD got hers at the end of 5th grade. Now 8 year olds have them.

I agree. It's just not a valid comparison from when I was in high school and now. I got my 1st cell phone in 1998; I was 18. I can think of maybe 2-3 people that had those car bag phone things in high school, but that's it. Quite a few of us did have pagers though.

It's the same with computers though, not that many people had their own when we went to college. I knew a dozen our so with huge desktops that were so slow. Signing on to AOL took like 5 mins. Now everyone has laptops and high speed internet.

Or dvd players, music (we were still rocking to cassette tapes in high school!), cameras, etc. Technology has just been advancing a lot.

10 years ago we spent some time in Tokyo and everyone carried these amazingly (for the time) slim little cel phones. We were in awe! I had one for years but it was huge. DH had one from his work so I'm sure I let mine drop after we got married (my dad paid for my original one.)

It is funny about the computers. In high school. I knew one guy who's dad had a computer with AOL. We loved going to his house to see it. His dad would maybe let us go on for 30 min a month or so.

I didn't get a computer until I was 20. It was a 486 with Windows 3.1 and cost a fortune. I didn't even know what email was or that it existed until my sophomore year of college! I had to go to the computer lab and be logged into the system by the workers there every time I wanted to use it.

So yeah, I think age is kinda irrelevant.

DS - 8 - is begging for a phone. Maybe it is time for a history lesson.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

My parents added my own phone to their plan when I was 14. This is when I started flying by myself on a pretty regular basis, and I only used it to call my parents. The year was 2002.

 

[Narnian_Princess]

I got mine a month ago; I'm 21. I got it because I moved away to college-- before that I just borrowed the "family phone" for when I went to work or my other activities.