Should a nine-year-old have a cellphone?

Consumer electronics portal Retrevo conducts lots of surveys in hopes of charting out its marketplace. The most recent asked parents to list the age range within which they felt it was appropriate for a child to have his or her first cellphone, TV, or computer.

I wish they had split up the 9-12 bracket to separate age nine from age 12. Retrevo reports that 28 percent of parents said 9-12 years old is OK for a first cellphone. But were those respondents thinking nine, or twelve? It’s a big difference – third grade versus sixth.

As Retrevo’s chart below shows, parents who actually have a child age 9 to 12 were more likely to approve of giving them a cellphone. Maybe that’s because they already did.

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