What age do you feel is acceptable for a child to have a mobile phone?

[Shortie]

Nowadays, I see children as young as four or five years old with a mobile phone and whilst I can understand why their parents would have bought them one due to the games that can be played on the device, I feel four or five years old is way too young to have their own mobile phone.

I have always been in agreement that a child should be allowed a mobile phone of their own from around the age of 13 when they would be more responsible and it would be something they would need at that age.

What age do you feel is acceptable for a child to have a mobile phone?

 

[Heatman]

This is something I believe would be subjective to each parent and it's also going to be influenced by how the kid behaves.
Personally for me, I don't buy the idea of giving kids smartphone when they are too young. I never had a smartphone till I entered the university but I won't say the same for this generation since almost everything is now influenced by technology. I would say the age of 16 years upwards should be good enough to allow kids smartphone.

 

[Stardom22]

As far as I am concerned, the right age for the child to be allowed to use a phone I think it at the age of 16years.
This is because at 16 they are a little bit matured and can atleast be responsible for using the phone's

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Nowadays, I see children as young as four or five years old with a mobile phone and whilst I can understand why their parents would have bought them one due to the games that can be played on the device, I feel four or five years old is way too young to have their own mobile phone.

I have always been in agreement that a child should be allowed a mobile phone of their own from around the age of 13 when they would be more responsible and it would be something they would need at that age.

What age do you feel is acceptable for a child to have a mobile phone?

My vote is 13 too. Maybe even 12. That's the age ppl really start to go out with friends alone and all that.
If you don't trust your kid online, you can always opt for a brick phone rather than a smartphone

 

[Shortie]

My vote is 13 too. Maybe even 12. That's the age ppl really start to go out with friends alone and all that.
If you don't trust your kid online, you can always opt for a brick phone rather than a smartphone

This is very true, luckily I am able to trust my kids online and if they ever see anything that doesn't seem right they always come to me about it which I am very pleased about. With their school being around 30 minutes out now, I feel safer with them having a mobile phone on them for safety even though they do use it for other things.

I guess the only issue with getting your child a brick phone if you could not trust them online would be if they knew about the latest phones and realized, that could cause some issues, you are the parent and that is your decision as I say so they either take what they're given or do without.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

This is very true, luckily I am able to trust my kids online and if they ever see anything that doesn't seem right they always come to me about it which I am very pleased about.

While I'm not one to judge one's parenting style, I think the most important thing is having an open relationship with your child as a parent. That decreases the likelihood of your child going behind your back and can alert the parent to potential dangers in case of an incident.

 

[Fidelia]

I intend to buy a tab for my child at 3 years old. The primary purpose of doing that is to help the child learn. I would pack it full of educational videos and contents that would help the child to grow.

 

[Kross]

I think a child should own a mobile phone from 10 years old. I think that at that age, the child is to a large extent mature enough to stick to precautions given to him by parents and guardians over smartphone usage.

 

[itsmejob]

First figure came to mind after reading the title was 13. Yes, I agree that kids at a very young age should be playing outside the house and not playing with the mobile phones.

 

[Henrywrites]

I will be fine with my kids having mobile devices when they are 15. The year that they ought to be out from high school and focusing on getting more education in the university. As long as they behave well, they will get the gift from me.

 

[Jason]

Too much adult oriented stuff on mobiles. Well, Im sure there would be blocks, right? Anyway, kids need to be around 10 I guess, so as they won't be too rough with the phones.