At what age should a child be allowed a cell phone ?

20 years ago I don’t think it’d matter. Back then the basics you could do with a phone is call, text, take pictures, and maybe play games. The real difference maker is that phones now come with access to the internet and the online world, which possess a lot more risk factors socially and psychologically. Honestly I don’t think the age matters as much as the parenting itself. I know a lotta kids (mostly boys) in small towns get taught how to shoot at a young age. There are even clubs and competitions without it creating much issue. Why? Because nobody just hands a kid a gun and says go have fun. They take the time to teach them proper handling and the responsibility that comes with it. The dangers. Safety and caution come first. But with phones it seems more and more parents are content with just giving it to them so freely just so they won’t have to actually parent and interact with their children. But I think if more parents thought about putting a phone in a kid or teens hands the same way they’d think about putting a gun in their hand or the keys to their car things would be different.

And for the record I wouldn’t keep them completely locked away from the internet either cause anyone who doesn’t live under a rock is gonna come to contact with it eventually. And I’d rather be the one to introduce my child to that rather than someone else. It’s one of those things where you can’t fully control the curiosity of a child but you can guide it by meeting in the middle of being strict without being too strict. Because all that does is program them to keep secrets from you and push away.