Should parents let kids have cellphones?

One of the more vexing questions during back-to-school-shopping season is whether to buy a cellphone. It's a hard question to answer personally and a hard one for parents to agree on collectively.

The debate has trickled down to lower and lower grades. Recently, I followed a debate on a parenting forum over whether it's appropriate to buy one for a kindergartner.

I laid out my case for holding off as long as possible on this necessity of modern life in a post about a new, and to me terrifying, product called the Teddyfone.

We'll get back to Teddyfone below. First, there are new data about the danger, or lack thereof, for children who use cellphones.

A study published last week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported that cellphone users ages 7 to 19 are at no greater risk of brain cancer than nonusers. Swiss researchers studied the cellphone usage of children with brain tumors, comparing them to a control group. They found no statistical difference in the amount of time the cancer-stricken children spent on a cellphone.

Still, the researchers, as well as others who study the area, suggested in the same Journal issue that the area needs more consideration. This spring, the World Health Organization suggested that cellphones are “possibly carcinogenic.”

Now back to Teddyfone. After I posted my case against this little phone, shaped like a teddy bear, available in pink or blue and easily used by toddlers, its U.S. distributor, Mitch Maurer, and I continued our conversation by e-mail.

Maurer said the phone is intended for children ages 4 and older. I think the introduction of a phone at such a young age fuels our irrational fears about the safety of children and cripples the development of independence. Maurer and I respectfully agreed to disagree.

Here is more from his argument:

“Teddyfone has real potential to help families with children who may spend time alone during the day or between scheduled activities, children that walk through daily or live in areas that parents feel are not entirely safe and for children that may be at risk or have special needs.

“I also remember how important it was that I know my home phone number to call in case of an emergency when I was young. And I think of my (5-year-old) boy today who doesn't need to know his home phone number - he needs to know his home phone, mom's work, dad's work, mom's cell, and dad's cell. Our children's lives are much busier and more complex than mine was as a child.”