Community Corner

Moms Talk: Do Cell Phones and Kids Belong Together?

This weeks Moms Talk discusses cell phone use among young kids.

I have this strong feeling my future kids will look at me like I'm insane when I talk to them about my first cell phone.

I was a few weeks shy of 20-years-old and beginning my sophomore year of college when I got my first mobile device. My phone was cheap and simple and did little more outside of calling friends. Of course, this was only 2005 so this was right around the time a lot of people were getting their first cell phones—I wasn't alone.

Still, everyone has a phone now. I have two, one for work and one for personal calls. My phones both can access the internet. I use my phones more for e-mails and texts than I do for making calls. 

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Wednesday night, I went to the St. Louis Cardinals game with my sisters. In the row in front of us a girl, no more than 10, pulled out her cell phone and began using it. My first reaction was that she was too young to have a phone, but I've been wrong before. Without kids to call my own, I don't really know how young is too young for a phone. That's why I have you people.

So for our question this week: When is a child old enough to have a cell phone? How much restirction should you put on phone use?

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