Cell Phone Usage Transcript

Speaker 1: Thank segment is sponsored by Gilman and Bedigian.

Speaker 2: Top executives wait to give their children’s cell phones until they are 14 with most not allowing data plans until 16 years of age. That’s according to a recent New York Times report yet across the US the average age right now for a child’s first phone is 10 what affects are smartphones having on their young brains. We’ll hear now from Gilman and Bedigian. Charles Gilman, thank you so much for coming in.

Charles Gilman: Thank you Tom thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: Your, your um, law off is actually put together a couple of questions that parents should have there that they should be asking themselves to find the right age. I mean, it makes sense, pretty simple. This is your child, a loser belongings. Will they understand how to use a phone responsibly or the gentleman responsible kid? And are they capable of navigating social media responsibly?

Charles Gilman: Well, it’s all part of a learning experience, but it also, you know, every kid is different. Every kid develops differently. Boy’s, sometimes slower than girls and it could be vice versa. So I think it’s, you know, every family has to ask the questions, all those questions and many more before they make a decision. Like, do I give a child a cell phone with a data plan or without a data plan?

Speaker 2: Uh, also, I know that another point is a lot of single parents will say, you know what, it’s, it’s vital because, um, if I can’t make it somewhere, I need my child to have a cell phone to be able to find it just for the contact.

Charles Gilman: Absolutely. It makes it easier to get in touch with your child after school or while they’re outside of school. Um, it makes it easier for you to find out where your child is because the one thing we all know about cell phones is they don’t put them down.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Charles Gilman: So there’s a good chance if you’re using one of those apps to attract some, it’s actually on them and you can make sure they’re where they’re supposed to be and there’s no bad things going on.

Speaker 2: Yeah. There’s some pros that you guys have in here. You know, it’s kind of like the apps for the phone that you’ll be able to spy on your kids, find out exactly what they’re texting. You can establish a lot of those parent guides on there and have them installed on their phone before you even hand it to them.

Charles Gilman: Correct.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Charles Gilman: I mean, we don’t call it spying, but it really is.

Speaker 2: Um, it’s more like monitoring.

Charles Gilman: Correct.

Speaker 2: There you go. That’s a good word. You’re the one buying the phone. Don’t you have the right to be able to see what’s being used?

Charles Gilman: Absolutely. It’s your data plan It’s your phone [02:00] and you should know what your children are up to because if they do need some education or talking to about what they’re doing on social media or what they’re not doing with it, you have the ability to do that because you’ve been tracking them.

Speaker 2: You also listed some of the cons here. One of the biggest factors, person that is the cost of it. I mean, these smart phones, are little computers right now and they get upwards of $1,000.

Charles Gilman: Absolutely. They’re very expensive to buy and purchase. They’re expensive to maintain and that the data plans can cost you 80 to $100 a month depending upon the carrier and, and you have to look at your family budget and see what’s going to work best for you and how much is it worth to be able to do these things for your, or to watch your child.

Speaker 2: What about the cyber bullying aspect of it too? Because now, now they’re vulnerable. If they do have a data plan and their own social media sites, it can quickly just backfire.

Charles Gilman: Oh, it can spiral out of control quickly. I think that’s part of the education process. Just like we don’t give kids cars or driver’s licenses without driving school. So there is no social media school, if you will. But we can talk to them about it at home. And I think the school’s, most of the schools now have topics and lectures on it and I think we have to come together as a community and teach them the benefits of the social media, but also the downfall so they don’t fall into one of those traps.

Speaker 2; So we were saying in the beginning, a 10 year old is the average us. I mean, you could see that or you think you personally, do you think, uh, maybe wait a couple of years?

Charles Gilman: I think it, again, it depends on when your family situation. Um, you know, I have children and I recall when I was making the decision, my children are older now. Um, it was important to me because they were going to places outside, um, camps and I wanted to make sure that, you know, every, nothing nefarious happened. And if it did, I would probably know where they were.

Speaker 2: All right thank you very much Charles Gilman.

Charles Gilman: Thank you.

Charles Gilman: We appreciate your input on this too.

Speaker 2 Thank you.