The Right Age

Katie: So I want to ask you about when is the right age to have stuff or to start doing stuff. What do you think is the right age to start having a phone?

Aimee: Oh, I think for security reasons, to, you know, keep the child safe, perhaps maybe about 11 or 12 when they start going around places without their parents.

Katie: Yeah.

Aimee: It would be a way for me to contact my daughter. Even now, my daughter is only six and she doesn't have a phone, and that's far too young, I believe. However, she walks to school by herself and walks home by herself. And that stresses me out for her safety.

So there are times where I wish I could phone her or text her, but she doesn't have a phone. And I do believe that six is far too young to have a phone.

Katie: A little bit too young.

Aimee: Yes. So purely for security reasons, I think probably around 11 or 12.

Katie: How old were you when you first got your phone.

Aimee: Well, I'm an old person so, you know, people didn't have mobile phones. I was reaching the end of high school. I was, I think, 17 when I got my first mobile phone. And it was a big brick. But again, that was for, you know, I guess security reasons.

Katie: Yeah.

Aimee: My parents got it for me. I was going out, you know, I started going out at night, going to concerts. And I was beginning to be allowed going into bars and things at 17, 18. So yeah, it was a good security thing. My parents were appreciative of being able to contact me.

Katie: Yeah.

Aimee: How about you? How old were you when you first got your mobile phone?

Katie: Oh goodness. I was about 12 or 13. I was really young.

Aimee: Okay.

Katie: And I only got my first mobile phone or my first cellphone because my best friend who got the same one and I wanted to send like picture messages to her. It was back in the old days where you can send a photo, you can take photos.

Aimee: Picture messages.

Katie: Picture messages.

Aimee: I couldn't even send picture messages. Mine was just texts, like pressing the same button over and over again.

Katie: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So I never really used it as like a way of security. I just used it to send really overpriced picture messages to my friend for absolutely no reason. It was such a waste. And to play Snake. Do you remember Snake?

Aimee: Oh yeah, Snake.

Katie: Like the little game that you could play on your phone.

Aimee: Yup, yup.

Katie: Yeah. I didn't use it for a good use, I think. I just used it to waste time.

Aimee: Fair enough. Well, you're 12, you said, right?

Katie: Twelve, thirteen, yeah.

Aimee: That sounds age appropriate, I think, age appropriate use.

Katie: Yeah. It's a good time to start wasting your time.

Aimee: Yeah.

Katie: Get ahead to start wasting time.

Aimee: Yeah.

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