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I am studying if young teens should be allowed to have cellphones at a young age because I want to find out if cellphones will benefit or detriment a teen so that readers can decide whether or not cellphones are a good or bad thing for a teen. Throughout the years, statistics have shown that children in Middle School and High School receive their first phone. There are many advantages and disadvantages as to young teens owning a cellphone and how it may affect their lives mentally or even physically. I am against the idea of children owning a cellphone at a young age because of the potential risks and disadvantages that come with owning a cellphone.

There are a few advantages of a young teen owning a cellphone, such as safety because a cellphone allows communication between a child and their parent to ensure his/her safety. Another advantage would be navigation and location because most smart phones have a built in GPS system which can allow a parent track their whereabouts when unsure of their location while at the same time allowing the teen to look up directions on how to get from place to place.

However, there are disadvantages to owning a cellphone. Researchers say that cellphones can affect a child’s life, what they mean by this is that depending on how attached a child is to his/her phone, it may affect the child’s behavior, mentality and even health. Access to a phone means access to social media networks, which could evidently distract a child from doing what’s actually supposed to be done at the time being. A children constantly paying attention to his/her phone could lead to problems such as stress levels increasing, eye vision getting worse and increased addiction. Another con would be when owning a phone, you are essentially a target to theft and/or assault. On top of everything, there are financial cons such as possible phone bills, replacements and upgrades.

In an article titled  “The Pros and Cons of Giving a Mobile Phone to a Teenager”, Robert Myers supports the fact of being able to keep track of teens by installing a tracking app on their phone. However, nowadays most smart phones come pre-built with a GPS tracking system. Aside from being able to track a teen, Myers wrote in his article that cellphones is a form of insurance in case any emergency were to happen, one call would be enough to inform a parent or teen of the situation.

Another source also agrees that cellphones is a great way to communicate between a parent and a teen in case of emergencies such as needing a ride. It’s becoming more common for teens to own a cellphone mainly to be able to get in contact in case of emergencies because pay phones are becoming rarer. Myers claims that cellphones can be a way of bribing a teen to do things that need to be done, while Kylie Lewis’ article “Teens and cellphones: Tips for parents” adds that cellphones can be a form of responsibility by teaching teens  management and appropriate situations to use cellphones.

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