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One Third Of Children With Cellphone By Age 8 – How About A BlackBerry?

by Ronen Halevy on Feb 20th, 2009 at 12:49 pm EST
13 Comments »
 

Nokia_5120 I remember my first cellphone. It was a Nokia 5120 and I got it about when I was 18. I also bought my first MP3 player that year with 64mb of storage! It looks like the times have truly and utterly changed. The Telegraph is reporting back that 35% of children in a recent study owned a cellphone by age 8. On top of that 3/4ths of them had at least one cellphone by age 15.

Pretty crazy. Having a voice line is one thing but how many of these kids have smartphones. I know that quite a few of the other writers on BerryReview have kids under 18 with BlackBerrys. I just cant imagine that many parents forking over the extra cash for the data plan.

To put in my 2 cents I have to say that this trend of always being connected for kids has its downsides. When I was a kid if you had an issue you had to tough it out until you got home and talked to your parents. Now I see kids calling their parents during break as a constant lifeline.

What do you think? Do your kids have a cellphone? How about a BlackBerry?

via Telegraph via CrunchGear

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 20th, 2009 and is filed under News.
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13 Comments to “One Third Of Children With Cellphone By Age 8 – How About A BlackBerry?”

  1. Posted by: Michael Jones
    February 20, 2009 at 2:38 pm EST

    This is definitely a problem, for a co-worker of mine. His two co-dependent kids (16+17, boy+girl) call him all frigging day long, to ask his advice on every trivial issue. They can’t go to the restroom without calling him. It is starting to affect his job security, in fact, since he wastes hours a day on the phone with them, every single day. How will they ever grow up?

  2. Posted by: Michael Jones
    February 20, 2009 at 2:41 pm EST

    Maybe if they had BlackBerries, they could at least BB Message him, instead of calling

  3. Posted by: brayndeded
    February 20, 2009 at 5:32 pm EST

    2 kids, 17 and 12. both have cells. When our contract runs out and alltel goes bye bye to verizon, I hope to upgrade both mine and my wifes 8830 to the curve (8900 i hope). then the 17 year old will get one BB and the 12 year old will get the other when he shows hes old enough to handle the thing.

  4. Posted by: susan
    February 20, 2009 at 6:08 pm EST

    Yep I have a daughter 16 that has a blackberry curve, we communicate by bbm!

  5. Posted by: JayDub
    February 20, 2009 at 6:59 pm EST

    I own multiple wireless stores and EVERY teenager swears the only phone that will meet their needs is a BlackBerry. They never use email or the web, just all of the intuitive messaging options. I have a customer that bought all 4 of his teenagers Curves and can’t understand why they don’t talk to each other at dinner. I simply suggested to “ping” them and called it a day!

  6. Posted by: Summer
    February 20, 2009 at 9:42 pm EST

    I have a 7 & 4 year old daughters who love to play with my old BlackBerrys. The 7 year old has already picked out my husband’s 8220 to be hers when the time come for her to have a phone. The 4 year old has yet to decide.

  7. Posted by: Stacy
    February 20, 2009 at 11:42 pm EST

    I just upgraded to the 8900 and gave my 8320 to my 15-year-old. It’s going well. Right away he began using the calendar to track homework assignments, church meetings and outings with friends. He also likes the notes: he jots notes to himself throughout the day. And of course, he plays Tetris while waiting in line with me at the grocery store.

    I haven’t added the data plan (yet!) but it’s a possibility, depending on how quickly he raises his Algebra grade. But for right now, it does everything he needs it to do, plus a couple extra goodies. I’m glad I gave it to him.

  8. Posted by: Queen4111
    February 21, 2009 at 8:11 am EST

    In today’s crazy world, parents have their children carry cell phones.

    My advice:

    5 to 7 yrs old – prepaid firefly cell

    8 to 10 yrs old- prepaid regular cell

    12 to 15 yrs old – prepaid Sidekick

    16 to 18 yrs old – BlackBerry (by this time, they have a part-time job to pay for data)

  9. Posted by: xRuhRohx
    February 21, 2009 at 10:09 am EST

    I cant stand seeing kids with blackberrys. I am a college student, and have a blackberry and barely need the blackberry. Although I use every aspect of my blackberry, ie. Student email, Taking notes in class, using the internet for my online classes. I am willing to bet the majority of kids out there with blackberrys dont have the data plan, and a blackberry without a data plan is just a phone. Why spend the money on the blackberry when any other phone is the same. If they really want a QWERTY keyboard, get your kids a sidekick or something. They dont need a smartphone, maybe just a semi intelligent phone.

    • Posted by: Stacy
      February 21, 2009 at 3:06 pm EST

      I understand what you’re saying, xRuhRohx, but not all kids are created the same; they don’t all view the BB as a toy. Many are mature enough to use it wisely. And for kids like my son, who need to be organized but struggle with paper planners, this device is a lifesaver.

      It also doesn’t need the data plan in order to be useful. The data plan just enables email and Web browsing. You don’t need it for calendar, notes or tasks. My son uses these apps regularly–something he couldn’t do with his Sidekick. The Sidekick is a fine device, but it’s designed to be more fun than functional.

      At the end of the day, I suppose it depends on the kid. I didn’t buy the Curve for my son; he inherited mine. But now that I see what a difference its made, I believe its a worthwhile investment–depending on the kid.

  10. Posted by: Greg Myers
    February 24, 2009 at 8:08 am EST

    I have a 15 year old daughter that I gave my P.O.C Storm to on a 24 month unlimited BIS contract. She has not put it down for the past 3 months. I.M ing all the time when she is not at school. Nearly 900 data sessions per month and not a single SMS or telephone call (although she has 500 free sms per month and 350 mins free talk time).
    Has it’s good and bad points. BBM is handy to keep in touch but the addiction is starting to show… Like father, like daughter…

  11. Posted by: macaws101
    March 13, 2009 at 9:46 am EST

    I use my sidekick. I started when I was just 31 years old. I had other phone because no other phone I can use for qwerty. I couldn’t afford qwerty til I get the sidekick for cheap cost. I only use it for communciation for relay calls. I can’t hear phone thru on Aim or other IP-Relay application programs. The only things is that Aim sometimes very slow to respond back and forth. But now, easier to sms with my cousin. He can call outs to some family members come to party or invite them over. Or I lips reads with my mom. Bascially, she felts sms fast to send everyone. But all family know how to 2 use sms. Especially young people today r using the sms. I perfer to use sms or email. I can use email. But most use thru computer but it is not reliable for communication. In most deaf people to them is very reliable responding thru email or sms thru their pagers. So fast responding to communicate with an family or friends or co workes.