Town Bans Cell Phones For Kids Under 12-Years-Old

A town in Dublin banned kids from having cell phones and many are wondering if it could be coming to the States next.

Parents in Greystones, Ireland got together to all agree that no one would buy their child a cell phone until they were in secondary school, which begins in seventh grade and the students are 12-years-old.

For those that think that kids shouldn't even have a cell phone by then, you may be shocked to know that communications company Ofcom reported that 20% of kids have a smartphone by the age of THREE, while 55% have one between the ages of 8 to 11. The biggest reason is that parents fear that their kids may miss out if everyone else has one except their children.

Admittedly, I don't hang out with a lot of people that have kids because any of my friends that have them only seem to go out once a year. But what are we doing giving 3-year-olds smartphones? No wonder the younger generation has no idea how to verbally communicate with one another. That and the whole not being able to go to school thing because of the likes of school union President Randi Weingarten.

CELL PHONE BAN HAS BEEN A SUCCESS

So far, Greystone parents say that the results have been promising as they say their kids are actually being kids and not obsessed with their phones at all hours of the day. In fact, according to The Sun, only 5% of parents said that they would immediately get their child a cell phone when they enter secondary school at 12-years-old.

In fact, many schools already had banned students from having them on school grounds - a movement that is picking up steam here as well.

There's no doubt that people are absolutely obsessed with their cell phones. I know people that legit can't sit still if they don't have it on them at all times - the anxiety is troubling if not sad to say the least. It also seems that parents - who are so caught up in their own lives these days just struggling to get by, sometimes just hand a phone to the kid just to quiet them down and keep them occupied. Take a look around the next time you go to a sit-down restaurant and you'll see kids of all ages on devices.

Toddler girl using a smartphone sat at the kitchen table

However, with more and more studies being shown about the detrimental effects of children owning a cell phone - not to mention the mental health aspects associated with social media and bullying-Greystone says that the results have been "astounding" and there is now a movement for the entire city of Dublin to enact a similar ban as well.

So my question to you is this: What's the proper age to allow kids to have a cell phone?