content: This exactly. My step-daughter got her smartphone at 8. It was so that she could get in touch with us when she needed and vice versa (joint custody). We spent a lot of time hand wringing over the decision. It came with a clear list of rules and a contract that she had to sign with us. It also has some good parental control software that let's us monitor her activity and even alerts us if she's leaving a safe area unexpectedly. It's actually been a pretty positive experience so far. She's learned a lot about responsibility and communication and we know that she can contact us if she needs to. We control her contacts which gives us peace of mind. It doesn't seem to be an issue with young children (in our experience). I suspect the nightmare will start in pre-teen or teenage range, but I'm not sure that is fundamentally a problem with the phone.