Cell phones and kids...

I see tweets often asking how young is too young? Or what age should kids get cell phones. I think this is personal. Like how old is too for a paci, pacifier, binky....whatever you call it. For us the magic age of cell phone use was 12, middle school. She was old enough to babysit and be left home alone. I saw it as a way of staying connected with her.It wasn't a fancy phone, just a regular flip phone but her own phone, none the less. Our son got his first smart phone at the age of 11. There were many factors of why this happened. JJ wasn't always home when we weren't anymore. We didn't have a house phone, and Mr. Fun and I wanted to upgrade our phones without paying a lot of money. We handed our phones down to the oldest children, creating a new line which gave us the free upgrade. BAM!
See, it's all very personal. You have to ask yourself, is my kid ready for one? Is there a need for it due to them being home alone or you stuck in traffic while they sit and wait at practice for you. Are they responsible enough? Maybe you are just sick of their friends texting you for them, that's annoying.
You can always set limits on it. It doesn't have to be a smart phone, you can limit their texts, I advise not to, you'll regret not getting the unlimited texting plan. You can take it in your room to charge at night. There are so many ways you can control the phone use, so if you think it would be nice for your child to have a phone, do it. Don't rely on social media to tell you the correct age. Even if they are in elementary school and walk home alone, the security could be nice. Check out this cell phone Firefly Mobile. I had a friend text asking my thoughts on it. Unfortunately I had never heard of it. After researching and reading reviews, I might have gotten it for JJ earlier than age 12.