How old were you when you got your first mobile phone?

[BruceJender]

A close-ish friend of mine has given her 8-year-old son a phone.

Obviously, it's up to her what her son does or doesn't get, but I couldn't help being surprised. It's a relatively expensive Samsung, too.

I'm sure many young children have phones now and are consequently using social media like TikTok and Instagram.

The first phone I ever had was this bad boy

Nokia 6820

I must have been 12 or 13 at the time, and I think my mum gave it to me since I was taking the bus from school and back on my own.

Didn't get an iPhone till 18 or so.

I feel like children are getting their hands on phones far too young nowadays, and this is obviously extremely detrimental to their wellbeing, especially once you consider the effects frequent use has on their mental health.

What was your first phone? How old were you? If you plan on having kids, when would you allow them to own one?

[Whatthefluff]

Got a flip phone when I was 7. My mom's old Blackberry when I was 8-9. An iPhone 5 when I was 12, but they disabled the phone app.
My parents are divorced so phones were a way to keep in touch when I was with the other parent.

[artstatues]

I got my first phone when I was 8. trust me, I'm not kidding. I know it was a young age, but I never grew up spoiled. And it had parental controls.

[genericname85]

16 or something. but earlier than that would hardly have been possible, cause the thechnology was not yet in the realm of stuff that a young family could afford to buy for their child.

[UniquelyBasic]

I was 14 or 15 when I got mine. Kids now seem to be getting a phone out of the womb.

[BruceJender]

Yeah, phones, tablets, laptops, etc...

I saw a kid who must have been 14 or so with an iWatch once. Mad times. Especially when I live in Portugal and the minimum wage is so low.

[WonderBell99]

I got an iPad when I was around 8 and an iPhone when I was 11.

[jshm2]

12. I mugged a rival gang member of it. The old Motorola black plastic brick phone.

[CloudMassacre]

I was in like 7th grade, but it was a simple flip phone, I didn’t get a smartphone until my Senior year of highschool

[secretgirl___]

Maybe 9 but it was just for game but the true one was in 11 years old I think.

[worldscolide]

I was 18. It was in the early 2000's.

[Surely]

Somewhere around forty!

[thedaffodils]

I was 9