Firefly- And why do 10 year olds need cell phones?

It must be August. Parents are with their kids shopping for school supplies. The National Retail Federation says families will spend about $450 on back to school shopping. Department stores now have lists that tell parents everything their kids need to fill up their backpacks. That list includes notebooks. Kids also need their pencils.

But believe it or not, some parents are including phones, although Shannan Cassidy from Iowa City is not one of them. She said, "It's an accessory like 50 lip glosses and 10 necklaces." Cassidy will not buy a phone for her 9-year-old. Neither will Ann Garmager from Coralville who has an 11-year-old daughter. Garmager said, "I think 11 is a little too young to have a cell phone."

But companies see 4- to 10-year-olds as an untapped market for cell phone use. How else do you explain the Firefly Mobile phone?

Target electronics employee Jordan Matzger said, "It's geared more toward the tweens." The phone has only five buttons and no numbers.

Target manager Amy McFarlane said, "Parents program the phone book using a pin and can add up to 20 numbers."

The phone can only take calls from those same numbers. The phone is like a step between a phone and a pager. Parents can easily reach their kids, and the kids get to have the latest technology at their fingertips.

The Firefly Mobile phone costs about $100.

Pfft. Man why cant kids bust their balls to get a quarter to use a payphone anymore.

I really hate all kids with celphones. you dont need them, just a waste of money and life.

Get used to it people.

We are, after all, living in the 21st century these days.

We are, after all, living in the 21st century these days.
Good observaion, Im glad you pointed that out!

Personly I don't think kids should have cell phones. Kids (most of them anyways) aren't very responsible. Thats just my 2 cents though .

Ha! Yeah, this thing cracks me up a little, but it's to be expected. Though, if my son were old enough to be in school with a phone, he wouldn't have one of those. He'd be the kid with the cool phone that's actually... a phone

lol. Yea, Roth spendig 200 dollars on the coolest phone for his kid . I don't see the need for a cell phone unless for emergences.

In Japan nearly all small kids (so about from 6 years on?...) have their own cell phones, or so it seems to me... a big waste of money.

man how I wish I live in Japan.......

Personally I hate all cell phones. As soon as someone has a cell phone they think they're more important than everyone else. For example, you DO NOT need to have your phone on during a movie. I don't care who you are, if you think something of dire importance is going to happen for the hour and a half that you're in there, DON'T GO TO THE MOVIE!

Or people driving while on the phone and crashing... Thanks guys, insurance rates weren't high enough already.

Yeah... I don't like people