If you ask any parent who has elected to furnish their child with a mobile phone what their reasons were behind this, they will invariably answer that it is for security purposes. They will insist that we live in a more dangerous world today and it is therefore essential that their child carries this means of communication around with them at all times.
However, 99% of the time this reason will be used as a complete scapegoat to cover-up the real reason behind the child's ownership. If the truth be known, it is usually the case that the child has pressurised the parent into giving in to them: after all, their friends at school will own the latest model of mobile phone and no modern day parent wants their child to be seen as poor and less fortunate.
In fact, very often the parent may have to compromise and make best use of an older model of mobile phone, or even just rely on iPhone sim only deals, whilst their child has the most up-to-date version.
The security issue really does not cut the mustard, too. The fact is that crime rates are actually lower today than they were when we were young back in the 80s. So do try to be more honest where this is concerned, please parents!
Children receive far too many materialistic possessions at an increasingly young age nowadays - this is an indisputable fact. In no way will this help a child to understand the true value of material items in life; instead, children are just becoming increasingly spoilt and their demands are becoming more and more extravagant.