As cell phones become increasingly ubiquitous in the backpacks and back pockets of American teens, parents and schools struggle with how to manage teens’ constant connectivity to friends, networks and the information that these devices allow.

Teens in our focus groups talked about how in many families, parents as much as teens were the instigators of the first phone purchase. Parents are most often the phone provider – 70% of teens have phones fully paid for by someone else. Most American teenagers get their first cell phone in middle school, at age 12 or 13: 23% of teens got their first cell phone at age 12 and another 23% got their first phone at age 13. About 20% of teens have their first phone by the time they enter middle school (age 11 or under for first cell phone owned). Another 14% of teens get their first phone at age 14 and roughly 20% get their first phone when they’re between 15 and 17.

Teens from lower income households generally must wait a little longer to get their first cell phone. A greater proportion of teens from lower income households – earning less than $30,000 annually — got their cell phones at later ages, with 18% getting their first cell phone at age 16, compared with just 6% of teens from wealthier homes. The trend persists through various income brackets, with teens more likely to get their phones at earlier ages in higher income households.

Parents and teens offer a variety of reasons why teens first get a cell phone. For many families, safety and an increased sense of connectedness is a major motivator. One high school girl told us, "I was a freshman in high school when I got one. …[T]he school I go to is downtown. My parents wanted to keep track of me." Another middle school girl offers a more frightening scenario: "[My mom’s] been going crazy on me because one time this guy followed me home. So my mom is like having a panic attack…. I don’t really get along with girls that good, I don’t really like gossip and drama, so she usually never let me walk with people. So now she lets me talk to people on the phone, [and] I get to walk with people. It’s better, I like it, I feel more secure with my phone." Other families purchase phones for their children to help simplify daily logistics: "Freshman year, because of sports and I was after school a lot and it was really hard to reach my parents and if I, like, missed the bus or couldn’t get a ride from upperclassmen, I was like stuck at school, and that happened once, so I got a cell phone after that." Another high school boy mentions that it is not always teens themselves who instigate the phone’s purchase. "I was also twelve. I got it…um, my mom got it for me to communicate with my parents, if I was walking, going to be late from school, or walking home. I didn’t care that much about it, it was cool to have, but I got along fine without it."