Kids and Mobile Phones!?

HouseHippo

Reminded by a post about this one....


I was doing work exp last year in a primary school in June.I was teaching the resource class for a week. During my time there I notice one boy in 2nd class got a MOBILE PHONE!! for his b-day, when I said sure who would you be ringing he replied: "all me mates in me class have em". These are kids of 7,8,9 years old, then I find out the new trend is to get them for your communion.


I had my first mobile phone when I was 12, is it just me or is 7 etc a bit too young to have a mobile, Not as if there parents don't know where they are and need it to contact them! Not to mention the radiation dangers of mobile phones, and the Gary Glitter Factor!Or is it safer for em to have phones in case they get lost wander off or a bit of both??

gcgirl

11/12 i thought is a good age to give your kid a phone but 2nd class too young !!

HouseHippo

gcgirl wrote: »

11/12 i thought is a good age to give your kid a phone but 2nd class too young !!

+1

ejmaztec

HouseHippo wrote: »

Reminded by a post about this one....


I was doing work exp last year in a primary school in June.I was teaching the resource class for a week. During my time there I notice one boy in 2nd class got a MOBILE PHONE!! for his b-day, when I said sure who would you be ringing he replied: "all me mates in me class have em". These are kids of 7,8,9 years old, then I find out the new trend is to get them for your communion.


I had my first mobile phone when I was 12, is it just me or is 7 etc a bit too young to have a mobile, Not as if there parents don't know where they are and need it to contact them! Not to mention the radiation dangers of mobile phones, and the Gary Glitter Factor!Or is it safer for em to have phones in case they get lost wander off or a bit of both??

They'd probably need one to ring the police if Gary Glitter showed up. :eek:

Ruu_Old

Bleh, what do they need them for? Texting their friends and letting them know Power Rangers is on telly? Very silly. A few pounds in an envelope is all we got for Communion in my day and the thing..*trails off Grandpa Simpson style*

HouseHippo

ejmaztec wrote: »

They'd probably need one to ring the police if Gary Glitter showed up. :eek:

They'd never get there on time, He's an expert at fast fiddling

Epic Tissue

Jeesh, it's only a phone.

bobcar61

7 or 8 is far too young for a mobile.They wouldn't have the proper use for a mobile and the majority would probably sign up for those 'free ringtones' messages that cost something like €2 a pop and then its the parents that go and have the rant...well they shouldn't have bought the phone for the kid in the first place.
Surely not that many 7 year old kids have a mobile phone and if one or two of their friends had a phone surely their parents would allow them to use theirs to send the odd message to each other.
I got my first phone when I was 12/13 I think.It was when I was starting secondary school so I might have been older.

HouseHippo

In the 3rd class, more than half the class ahd phones, I even had to give out to one for texting in class :O he was about 10

KnifeWRENCH

Any parent who gives a 7 year old a mobile is spending waaaay too much money on their kids. If one parent gives their child a phone, than all the kids friends will be jealous and start beggin their parents for phones aswell. Creates quite an awkward situation.

11 should be the minimum age kids should get them. I'd assume quite a lot of primary schools ban phones anyway?

HouseHippo

square_igloo wrote: »

Any parent who gives a 7 year old a mobile is spending waaaay too much money on their kids. If one parent gives their child a phone, than all the kids friends will be jealous and start beggin their parents for phones aswell. Creates quite an awkward situation.

11 should be the minimum age kids should get them. I'd assume quite a few primary schools ban phones anyway?

They do ban em yeah but as with secondary school, they just bring them in in their bags, not all but some.

ciano1

I got my first phone out of my communion money

Still have the same sim and number......one of those purple eircell sims :D

ChewChew

my niece recently got a mobile. she is 8. I dont see the logic. she texts me, but rarely has credit, and generally forgets the bloody thing.

TBH, I think there is enough out there trying to turn kids into mini adults without parents adding to it.

Let them be kids. Thats all they are. Why the hurry for them to grow up??

brianthebard

FFS op, You had a phone when you were 12??? I was 17 before I got my first phone. Kids today...

One-Day-Juande

There are two sides to this,

I think its a bit mad kids having mobile phones at that age. I got my first one when I was 13/14 and even then I hardly had any use for it, (not many people had them at that point).

Also it's a very valid point that someone made as regards those sub services, in fact if you ever see those ridiculous ads on the tv for glomobi then you soon realise that these kids are their target market. The marketers know that these kids have phones with credit being paid by mammy and daddy and nobody to call, so they force these sub services that half the kids dont know how to unsubscribe from and make a pretty penny.

If I had my when the revolution comes...

But any way on the other hand, it is quite good as regards parents knowing the location of their children. They can ring and say they'll be late and to wait inside etc. Also as someone mentioned the 'glary glitter' factor, well thats a good thing, if a child is abducted then mobile phones can be used to triangulate a location.

HouseHippo

brianthebard wrote: »

FFS op, You had a phone when you were 12??? I was 17 before I got my first phone. Kids today...

My mum made me get a mobile.I never had more than a fiver on it, it was just to ring her and check in if she ahd to leave me alone when working

HouseHippo

One-Day-Juande wrote: »

There are two sides to this,

I think its a bit mad kids having mobile phones at that age. I got my first one when I was 13/14 and even then I hardly had any use for it, (not many people had them at that point).

Also it's a very valid point that someone made as regards those sub services, in fact if you ever see those ridiculous ads on the tv for glomobi then you soon realise that these kids are their target market. The marketers know that these kids have phones with credit being paid by mammy and daddy and nobody to call, so they force these sub services that half the kids dont know how to unsubscribe from and make a pretty penny.

If I had my when the revolution comes...

But any way on the other hand, it is quite good as regards parents knowing the location of their children. They can ring and say they'll be late and to wait inside etc. Also as someone mentioned the 'glary glitter' factor, well thats a good thing, if a child is abducted then mobile phones can be used to triangulate a location.

Also another bad point....Alot of mobile phone theft going on, it's on the rise (we've all ahd the Give us yer phone, from the lads outside the chip shop)
Kids are much more vunerable in my case i'd prob just tell me to piss off, but with a kid whats to stop them snatching the phone and hurting the kid pretty bad