S/O What age did/will your kid get their first phone?

[The Mystery Machine]

My eldest is 8, so I have no experience with this yet. DH & I agreed long ago that we will buy them their first phone when they get their learner's permit, so 16 is our plan. Otherwise, the kids can use ours to talk to their friends or whatever.

No flames, here, please. Just a nice friendly discussion. So what age were or are your kids going to be when they get their first phone?

They got the phone when we had no landline. DD was babysitting younger dd in 6th grade.

 

[Fintastic]

My kids are 13 and 7 and neither of them has a phone. We have no plans to get them phones.

 

[Saimaeve]

I think our daughter was 8 or 9? We don't have a landline. At the time she was having some issues with a boy in the neighborhood and this way she was able to let me know where she was and if she needed help right away. We moved not long ago.

It's nothing super fancy, but in case she needs to get in touch with us or wants to talk to a friend, she has that option. I'm not against it at all. It's a communication tool and when she goes out to play (She's 11 now) she can let me know right away if there is anything wrong. One time she crashed her bike and scraped herself up pretty badly. She was able to send me an alert with her location. By the time I got there she had cleaned herself up as best she could with water from her water bottle and leaves. But I was able to get to her to make sure she had no other injuries within just a few minutes.

 

[DisneySam30]

I'm not a parent, but I got my first phone when I was in 5th grade. It was a basic flip phone that I could only call my parents on. I got my first keyboard phone when I was in 7th grade that was used for texting and calling, but no internet. I then got my first smart phone when I was in 9th grade. When I got to college, I started paying for my phone and service because I use a different carrier than my family (carrier my family uses doesn't provide service to the area my college is in).

 

[jaiminee krikit]

My daughter was 10. She was in a dance company with unpredictable rehearsal hours and we both got sick of her having to ask to borrow someone else's phone when it was time to get picked up. We were kinda on the fence, thinking maybe she was a little too young, when our town got hit by a tornado. Luckily we live 1.5 miles away from the dance studio and as soon as the sirens went off I got in my car and rushed there. I will never forget the look of pure panic on her face when I pulled up. She'd just gotten to use someone's phone to call - and everyone else was leaving. (Studio is a large pole building - you do not want to be in there in bad weather). We made it home and to the crawl space just in time. Most of the other dancers went to another dancer's house that was in the middle of the damage. Parents were not allowed to go into the subdivision where the dancers were for quite some time, and I was mortified at the thought of not being able to get to her. Her birthday was a few weeks later, so perfect. Our town was hit by ANOTHER tornado a year and half later. Now when there's bad weather and she has dance, I stay in my car in the parking lot, ready to high tail it outta there!

 

[prprincess]

The plan was to wait until the kids could contribute to paying for their own lines. But I'd just renewed our contracts, and then hubby gets a new job that gave him a work phone, so we gave his line to DS12.

 

[aprilchem]

I also like that I can open up my phone and see where everyone is at. I took a beating in a thread here on the DIS a few years ago for saying that. Pretty much accused of not trusting my family. The thing is THEY can see ME too. For the younger ones I like this because I have their maps set for walking directions and they can say, "Siri, give me directions to Mama." Or if we're somewhere and get split up they can open Find My Friends and follow the map to me. And of course they can call me. I got lost so many times as a kid (well, as an adult too, lol) and had severe anxiety. Waiting for someone to find me was awful.

We do this - everyone in my family has access to "find my friends" for everyone else. We don't have anything to hide, and it's nice for me to know whether DH has left work or not rather than having to call him while he's driving. Plus, if the kids are out for a walk I figure out where they are!

To answer the OP's question, my DS 11 got a phone last summer. He gets off the bus and comes home on his own, so he needed a way to communicate with me. We don't have a landline. It's an iPhone, but he doesn't have any social media and he is only able to text us and his cousins.

 

[disneychrista]

My kids got trackphones when they were in middle school. Then a "real" phone (back when they were still flip phones) a year or so later. This was in lieu of getting a cash allowance. It was something like $20/month back them with unlimited text & talk. Not sure what I would do now with "smart phones" and $50 plus per line.

 

[Colleen27]

My kids got trackphones when they were in middle school. Then a "real" phone (back when they were still flip phones) a year or so later. This was in lieu of getting a cash allowance. It was something like $20/month back them with unlimited text & talk. Not sure what I would do now with "smart phones" and $50 plus per line.

FWIW, there are cheaper carriers. We pay $100 for 4 lines, all smartphones, unlimited everything (though the data speed is slowed after the first gig of data).

 

[aprilgail]

We do this - everyone in my family has access to "find my friends" for everyone else. We don't have anything to hide, and it's nice for me to know whether DH has left work or not rather than having to call him while he's driving. .

During school I text my daughter anytime but after school I always do a "find my friend" because I don't want to text or call her while she is driving. She always has her phone mounted up because she uses it for GPS ( she has ZERO sense of direction)- so I don't want to text or call while she is driving!

 

[Pembo]

My kids were all 13, going into 7th grade when they got their first phone, a flip phone. As for smartphones, we bought the first one for ds when he was headed to college, second ds got his during senior year, and my hs freshman dd still has a keyboard phone.

 

[aprilgail]

My kids are 13 and 7 and neither of them has a phone. We have no plans to get them phones.

And that is fine if that works for your family and your kids don't have to start asking other kids to let them use their phone to make calls or look things up in school.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

First three got basic phones when they entered sixth grade. They each got a smart phone for Christmas in eighth grade. Fourth one entered sixth grade and got DH's old phone which is now broken. We will likely get him a new phone in the next few weeks. Older three will complain youngest one got phone at earlier age and claim fourth child is being raised by a pack of wolves....

 

[msjprincess]

All 3 received them for Christmas in 4th grade.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Mine had a phone they shared between them once oldest was in kindergarten (so ages 4 and 2). It went with them in a bag when they were at birtrhday parties, etc and was available to be left at home for a sitter to use when we went out since we had no landline and in the late 90s not every sitter had hteir own cell.

I think they each go their own phone when the oldest was in third grade and youngest in first---when we moved adn started new contracts and it was easier to add the lines then.

Both have carried phones reliably since then (they are now 20 and 18) and used them for things like calling grandparents, keeping in touch with me and later on friends, data, etc---but neither was ever as attached to their phone as I hear so many other people saying teens are.

 

[Juliet0778]

I don't know. We're pretty anti-tech because I see kids already at 6 or 7 who can't get through a meal at a restaurant without a phone or tablet. My 6 year old doesn't even get to play on our phones or tablets...I'd rather he continue to spend time creating with his legos or playing outside. So, for a phone, I imagine we won't even entertain the possibility until he's in middle school.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I don't know. We're pretty anti-tech because I see kids already at 6 or 7 who can't get through a meal at a restaurant without a phone or tablet. My 6 year old doesn't even get to play on our phones or tablets...I'd rather he continue to spend time creating with his legos or playing outside. So, for a phone, I imagine we won't even entertain the possibility until he's in middle school.

How do you feel about kids who are buried in a book and blocking out others at a meal out?
Coloring and not participating in table conversation?
Intent on building with legos and not talking to others at the table or eating?

Is it only tech that causes a lack of manners or interacting at the table a problem for you?

(full disclosure, there were times when my kids were on the phone with grandparents while we waited on our food and also times when the oldest was fully immersed in a book through a meal; mostly during the times we had moved and were living in hotels and eating out every,single,meal and that is a long time to sit for dinner night after night after night for young kids so we allowed thigns they knew would not be typically allowed---I am not saying no one should ever be allowed to not be engaged and on at a meal out, but wondering why so often it'S fine for parents if the child is quietly coloring or reading but not if they are doing somehting quiet with a digital item and wonder if the previous poster is seeing a difference there and if so what)

 

[sam_gordon]

Oldest DD got a Tracphone at age 11 because she was staying by herself at home, we didn't have long distance, and DW & I worked a county away (but enough to be LD). She got a smart phone a year later.
DS got a smartphone (2 generations old) at his 13th birthday.
Younger DD (now 11) is still utilizing an ipod touch but is starting to ask for a phone.

I don't think anyone can say 'at age x, they need a phone'. There are too many variables. Likewise I don't think it's a valid argument to say "I didn't have a cell phone growing up, the kids don't need one either." I'm guessing you didn't have the internet, netflix, satellite TV, or many other technology advances that many people see as a "need" now.

That being said, I'd say kids need a phone (not necessarily a smart phone) when they are spending more time on their own (whether at practices, events, or just going to the park) and might need to reach out to family members.

 

[aprilgail]

(full disclosure, there were times when my kids were on the phone with grandparents while we waited on our food and also times when the oldest was fully immersed in a book through a meal; mostly during the times we had moved and were living in hotels and eating out every,single,meal and that is a long time to sit for dinner night after night after night for young kids so we allowed thigns they knew would not be typically allowed---I am not saying no one should ever be allowed to not be engaged and on at a meal out, but wondering why so often it'S fine for parents if the child is quietly coloring or reading but not if they are doing somehting quiet with a digital item and wonder if the previous poster is seeing a difference there and if so what)

LOL- reminds me of when my daughter and I went on our road trip two summers ago- we spent 24 hours together for over 6 weeks, much in the car talking. When we would stop to eat we would go into the restaurant and whip out our phones and go into our "own space" while we were in there. I often thought about the people around us looking at us and going home and posting on a message board about the 2 people that spent their whole time in the restaurant on their phones and not even connecting and talking with each other there- little did they know how much we "connected" during all the time in the car and the hotel and sightseeing!

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I don't know. We're pretty anti-tech because I see kids already at 6 or 7 who can't get through a meal at a restaurant without a phone or tablet. My 6 year old doesn't even get to play on our phones or tablets...I'd rather he continue to spend time creating with his legos or playing outside. So, for a phone, I imagine we won't even entertain the possibility until he's in middle school.

My DD has had a phone for years. I NEVER see it in a restaurant, at dinner, or during any other family function, because she knows she will no longer have it. It's doesn't become all consuming if you don't let it.