What age to children get mobile phones?

[MammaEvz3]

My DD age 6 has started asking when can she have her own mobile phone. I don't envisage getting her one for a good few years yet but it has started me wondering when do kids typically start to have their own phones these days?

I was thinking maybe when she goes to secondary school and told her 11 but I don't really know and she complained because her cousin age 8 already has one. (Yay thanks for that SIL) 🙄Although I have no problem imposing different rules in our family to others it did get me thinking.

Definitely holding out for secondary school. It really is like a drug, and a gateway to social media, influencers etc, which are very hard to control. The longer you can leave it the better, no matter what others are doing.

Consider a dumb phone.. my teenagers (13 and 15) both have them (got them at 11 for secondary when they are several villages away from me and do need a phone to tell me if the bus is late, club cancelled etc..). They don’t need a smart phone and have never asked for one. They can call and text me if they need me, can take it out on bike rides for safety and can text friends - they don’t need to waste hours looking at TikTok and snap chatting, no worries about bringing school bullies home with them. And there’s no risk of them seeing something they shouldn’t (and I don’t think 11 year olds can self regulate on that.. it’s not fair to expect it). My younger children (10 and 7) don’t have a phone at all. It has honestly never been a problem with peer pressure- other kids think they are cool and retro (they have Nokia flips which take photos too - just can’t send the photo to anyone but I find that reassuring!) the battery lasts forever too which is very useful! My oldest son's best friend has voluntarily given up his smart phone for a dumb phone as he thinks he is happier without it and he has more time to do other stuff! We think kids need these things but it’s not necessarily the best thing for them. It’s child and situation specific but I would just encourage you to consider whether they really need it and what you are introducing to their lives if they have access to the internet outside the home at a young age. Dumb phones are perfectly adequate til the age of 16 at least…

Hold out as long as you possibly can. A phone at 8 is ridiculous!