Too Young to Text?

Deciding the right age

How young is too young for a cell phone? A YouthBeat survey from the first six months of 2012 found that 13% of children ages 6 to 10 already own one. But 12 is the most common age for first-phonedom; that's when 18% of kids get theirs. "Middle school is the clear-cut time in my mind," says Gwenn O'Keeffe, a pediatrician who last year co-wrote an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report on children and social media. "There's a huge developmental leap between fourth and eighth grades." When will your child be ready? Here are some factors for parents to consider:

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