Mobile Phones for teens and younger children

[Elizabeth1989]

I'm currently at University doing a degree in Journalism and am writing an article about the increased populatiry in mobile phones in the past couple of years. Especially the rise in the amount of young people who are buying them or being given them by their parents.

The article i write will be inpublished but i just thought it would be really helpfull to ask a forum of mothers how they feel about the mobile phone phenomenon, whether you have bought your child a mobile phone for safety reasons or because you feel pressuresd because all of their friends have them. Any response would be great. Thank you for your time.

Liz.

[Elizabeth1989]

just to confirm the article is NOT published, sorry fot the typo.

[cantspel]

I bought my children mobiles at around 10 years old as this was the age they started to go to the park or around their friends alone. I started off with cheap pay as you go's and when youngest started secondary school he got a better phone on contract as he uses the train and it is important to me that he can contact someone in case of train delays ect. Older lad uses school bus and not as into phones as his brother so he is happy with his pay as you go.

I felt no presure to buy mobiles and think they are a good thing.

[BadRoly]

My dh had to get a basic mobile (no camera or internet) for going offshore. We keep meaning to load our numbers and put credit on it for our dd1 (Yr5, 10 in July) but so far haven't got round to it. Doesn't really seem to be any need to be honest but I am not against them.

[fumanchu]

My DD is 10 (year 6). quite a few of her friends have mobiles already but she will get one when she goes to secondary school and it will be a cheap PAYG. I'm sure she would love one now but I feel it is unnecessary and am firm on the subject!

[scurryfunge]

I have bought my son several phones from the age of 11 (last year of primary school).

I have treated the very cheap pay as you go as almost disposable items and did not get too upset when they were inevitably lost or stolen.

He is sixteen now and I pay for a contract phone and he pays the insurance for it.

I didn't feel pressure for him to have one. I don't think he ever saw them as "must haves" but I felt more at ease knowing I could contact him if necessary. There is a certain cool factor amongst his friends about who has the crappiest, oldest phone.

[Elizabeth1989]

Are any parents worried that because there child has a mibile phone they are more at risk of being mugged or do you find that they become engrossed in the phone?

[scurryfunge]

I have briefed my son about using his phone in a public place and have always told him to give it up if someone tries to rob him (or run like hell!).

Street robberies are quite common for teen boys who are out on their own, in a fairly isolated area during the evening.
As a parent I try to eliminate or reduce these factors but at the end of the day, it transfers blame to the victim by suggesting they are at fault by owning a phone, so I try not to let that influence me too much.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

DD has had one for a couple of years. She is now 9.9. The first one she got when she wandered off in Zurich and we couldn't find her for about 15 minutes.
She lost that but we weren't too fussed. It was PAYG and had been my old one.
The current one is somewhere in the house , she only takes it when she goes to the park with her friends.
We live in a very quiet village in Belgium, I don't think there is much street crime here so I am not worried about theft. Nobody would want it TBH, it is another basic PAYG.

[cory]

Bought one for dd in Year 6 for rather unusual safety reasons: she has a joint condition which means she can collapse at any moment, e.g. when walking home from school. So might well have needed to call for assistance. Will shortly buy one for ds who has same condition- it's a choice between that and hovering around them all the time, which I don't like at all.

[mumeeee]

DD3 had one her first one when she was 15, DD1 and 2 didn't have them until they were 17 ( they didn't want one before). We always said not until they were 16 and could pay for it themselves. They are now 19,21 and 23. None od f DD1 or "'s friends had mobiles when they were 12 and only a couple of DD3's friends did at that age.
Wehn DD3 did have a mobile she decided not to take it to school as there had been a lot of trouble with stealing and losing phones at her highschool and the headmistress had said not to bring them in unless they really had to,
One reason that I don't like young children having mobiles is that thier skulls are not fully hardened until they are 16 and ther is some risk of brain damage from mobile phone use.

[bigTillyMint]

We got DD one in the summer before she went to secondary school. Mainly so that she could get hold of us if necessary on the way to or from school or if out on her own, but partly because all her freinds had/were getting them

It is a cheap PAYG - initally she barely used it, but now she texts her friends loads. She wants a fancier phone for her next birthday.

[Jaynerae]

We bought our DS a pay as you go mobile in yr 6 as this is when he started to walk home from school alone. I had to write to the Headteacher for permission for him to have it. He never took it out of his bag unless he needed it and no one knew it was there.

However he is now in YR7 and school has strict no mobiles policy, although most children ignore that. My DH and I have refused to let DS take his to school, because they get stolen and it is against school rules.

He does walk home from school but so do majority of other children so is not exactly alone.

We do insist he takes it with him if he goes out with friends on bikes or to park.

We strongly believe if we do not support school rules, how can we expect him to.