Multiple random thoughts:
- My kids are young 20s now, and it seemed to me that the "first wave" of kids their age were given their own phones when they started middle school ... and LOTS of kids were given phones when they finished middle school /started high school.
- Today I teach high school, and I'd say near-100% of our students have personal phones ... most of them are SmartPhones. If your kids are telling you "everyone else has one", they're not lying.
- I agree with the poster who says not to splurge on the "latest and greatest" models. If you give your kids everything, for what will they work /aspire? I remember being a teen and being so proud when I was able to buy something for myself (not that anyone had a cell phone then).
- Pretty often, I hear my high school kids talking about so-and-so texting them a dozen times between 2 am and 4 am ... kids need their sleep! When my kids were younger, our rule was that phones were on the kitchen counter after a certain hour, so no one was staying awake at night watching YouTube or texting.
- Someone asked, when does the YouTube phase end? Never. Since kids use their cell phones as music players, YouTube remains a constant. YouTube has some great stuff; for example, my husband used it to figure out how to fix our dryer ... so many "how to videos" ... but it's also full of scary stuff. You have to be careful.
- The "need" for cell phones has changed somewhat in that pretty much no one has a landline anymore.
- The pay phone has been removed from our high school, and the office is only open about 30 minutes after school ... so if a kid is staying for sports, etc., he or she won't have access to a public phone. This isn't really a big issue though: coaches are pretty good about saying what time practices end, and someone else always has a phone that can be borrowed.
- I don't know about younger grades, but in high school it's assumed that everyone can be reached via text message. Our school uses Remind 101 for lots of things -- Sophomores sign up for PSAT by this date, Varsity Football against East Friday night 7:00, two hour delay for snow, etc. Many parents sign up for these reminds too. A kid who can't receive text messages is somewhat hampered academically and socially -- don't take that statement to an extreme -- I'm saying a kid who can't send /receive texts is just going to be a little out of the loop -- I'm not saying he'll be a social outcast or anything.
- Phones in the classroom are a real problem. Kids are experts at hiding them, and they're a BIG distraction for the kids. We do not use phones for any educational purposes in the classroom; we have a laptop for every student, and the laptops have some restrictions to keep kids "where they should be" ... for example, you can't google anything to do with pornography at school, and YouTube videos are "locked" to students (though teachers can show educational YouTubes on the SmartBoard and can "unlock" specific YouTubes for students to watch.