Guess the average age a child gets their first cell phone.
I’ll wait.
Got it? Let’s see how you did.
A study of 1,425 people in the UK (where cell phone plans are cheaper than in the US, possibly skewing the results) found the average kid gets a cell phone at age eight (!)
Crazy.
(via CrunchGear)
My wife teaches 8-9 yr olds and there are several in her class with cell phones. My philosophy is they get one when they can 100% pay for it.
The article did make a point that some of the parents use ring tones as an incentive for doing chores. If the kids are covering their cell phone bill out of their own money, it’s not as bad. It’s still surprising that they start so young. I had my first cell phone when I was in college :)
I was 12 when i got my first cell phone, but i got it because i made good grades, and i worked for it. i did not pay the bill, but i did earn the rights to it.
I have not got a phone and I’m almost 11