It took me a very long time to get a cell phone. I was very anti-cell phone actually. I thought of them as electronic leashes and I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. That changed one year when I was a senior in college and my car broke down in the middle of an intersection. I was all alone and needed help. At that moment I realized that having a cell phone in case of emergency was probably a good idea.
Now, my kids are starting to ask when they will be able to have a cell phone of their own. They use mine all of the time to play games. They don’t use it to make calls because they aren’t old enough to want to hang on the phone for hours. Right now I think it’s more a fascination with all of the apps on the phone that serve as entertainment. But I’m starting to ask when will that age be gone and it be time to get them phones for emergencies.
I’m thinking when the kids are in middle school will be a good age. I will have strict rules about NOT using the phones during school to play or chat or text friends. I don’t want them to disrupt other students or break school rules. However, I do want them to be safe if they are walking home from school or are hanging out at the mall with friends. I guess I’ll take it one day at a time for now. I still have a few years to go before I really have to worry about it.