What age did you give your kid a cell phone? A FaceBook Survey

When we think of raw data, there's no place better to draw from than our friends on FaceBook.  People are always interested in what a friend posts and will most likely answer if the post is relevant to them.  

So I put it out there- What age did you give your kid a cell phone?

Here are some of the answers I got:

• My oldest was 15 and my youngest was 13.
• The one that is now 23 got her first phone when she was 16. (We made her wait until then.) The 8 year old is already asking for one and we have said no, and probably will not let him have one until he is about 12.  Maybe if we could get a phone that was only able to call certain numbers (mom, dad, home, emergency, etc.) he might get one sooner than 11.
• Didn't get my first cell phone until 16 -- had to be old enough to pay the bill
• My daughter is 12 and has one.  l I thought it was fair because if she's old enough to "become a woman" she is surely old enough for a phone.
• My son was 13 my daughter was 10. It was more to do with sports as we co-op with another school.
• Middle school...if the grades are good... in our case my daughter does after school activities...
• My daughter was 9 when she got one, so I could get a hold of her when she was with her dad. I think middle school is a good time though.

There you have it, seems like mostly middle school age kids are getting cell phones.  Mostly due to school activities and starting to actually do things without the parents.