Children and Technology

On my 12th birthday, my twenty year old sister, Jill bought me my first cell phone.  Although most of my family thought I was still too young for my own phone, my parents believed a pay-as-you-go cell phone was a good starter for a twelve year old and neccessary since the payphones in school (yes payphones, that feels like centuries ago!) were annoying to use if I wanted to go to a friend's house after school as you couldn't use them during the day.  Though my cell phone wasn't a flip phone and had an antenna, I loved it!!  Though many people thought I was still too young for such a gift, I felt I was "grown-up" enough to use one.  Well times have definetly changed!!

Now, in the year 2011, eight years after I recieved my first cell phone, I now own an LG Envi Touch.  Though my latest phone was amazing when it first came out, it has recently been outshined by the likes of the iPhone, the Droid, etc.  The irony I want to speak of is that both the iPhone and the Droid are owned by my two younger cousins, aged thirteen and eleven.  Although i believe twelve is a good age to own a phone as these kids are gaining more independence (maybe going to the movies and the mall with their friends) and just for protection but at what age is too young and is it nessesary for a thirteen year old to own an iPhone?!

I know every child is raised differently and thus the age at which a child recieves a cell phone may differ, but from what I've seen, younger and younger children are getting their hands on impressive technology.  For instance, when I was seventeen and getting my first Envi 2, I was quite excited.  Unfortunetly, this excitement slowly disappearred when I visited my dad and realized my seven year old sister had the exact same one!  Maybe some will disagree, but I have absolutely no idea what a seven year old, or for that matter, a ten year old needs a cell phone for!  I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for the fact that all of my cousins' friends have phones similiar to theirs.  I don't know what Apps a thirteen year old needs or who they may be texting and about what, but in my opinion, the use of cell phones has gone too far and the same is true for Facebook.  Young kids do not need to stay connected via a social networking site when they are ten years old (the age my cousin was when her and her friends made theirs).  If the use of technology has gone this far I am definetly wary as to how it will be when I have children.  For all of us college students who may not have as impressive phones as the iPhone or Droid, you may know where I am coming from.  We have jobs and homework deadlines, along with trying to plan things with friends and keeping personal appointments, so it makes sense for people of our age to own phones or other forms of technology that manages our busy life,  but when I see a child just Youtubing videos on an expensive phone, I just think, "What happened in the ten years since I was a young kid?"  Are kids really kids anymore or has the use of technology made most of them into young adults way before they hit puberty.