What's the Right Age to Buy Your Kid a Cell Phone?

A group of middle school-aged girls are sitting together at a local business, but no one is talking to each other. They're all looking down at their cell phones ... checking for the latest activity on their social networks.

Occasionally they look up at each other, but only to discuss what they're seeing on the cell phone before turning back to the all-important smart phone that seems to holds the key to the world as they know it.

Adults are just as immersed in this sociocultural reality.

Perhaps we play a greater role in perpetuating it than we'd readily admit. After all, our children often model their behavior after ours, especially in their formative years of development. And I've seen plenty of couples out to dinner with their kids, all of them on their cell phones, no one talking to each other.

(I'm no saint, by the way; my 2 and-a-half year old son is watching a show an our iPad as I write this. Reality and ideals don't match up 100% of the time.)

Some may say this near obsession with technology will lead to the demise of our society and relationships as we have come to know — and treasure — them. Others will point to how this technology has brought us closer by breaking down the barriers of time and space that have traditionally existed.

And when it comes to our children, still more will say that these smart phones have given us a necessary way to stay in touch, a sense of security, safety, and peace of mind.

At the same time, these smart phones can expose our children to limitless information and, potentially, risks like online predators and cyber bullying. One need only do an online search of cyber bullying to see how pervasive and concerning it has become.

And it seems that new apps are being created all the time that are being used as mediums to bully. Some parents will tell you it's a full time job just trying to stay up with all the apps and protecting their kids from the potential dangers of them.

When Patch published an article this week about one relatively new app, Yik Yak, and how it had taken some schools by storm, the conversation began to touch on the question of what is the right age to buy your child a cell phone. We figured we'd put that question front and center:

What's the right age to buy your kid a cell phone?