Does 12 year old need an iphone?

[VHG]

So a 12 year old was robbed of his iphone in a park in Scotland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...side-central-17885962

While not saying he deserved to be robbed, does a 12 year old really NEED an iphone worth around £400 (and possibly a £30 or £40 a month contract).

And also should a 12 year old be walking alone through a park with an item worth £400 on him?

As I said, nobody deserves to be robbed, no matter who you are, what time of the day it is, or where you are walking, but surely this is putting temptation in front of some of the low life that are walking the streets nowadays.

Be interesting to know if the parents were paying for this, and thought it was a "good idea" for making their 12 year old a likely mugging target.

[bednobs]

nobody needs an i phone, or any mobile for that matter

[daffy654]

I wouldn't buy my 14 year old son an iPhone. He doesn't own any sort of mobile phone...one of the benefits(?) of having a child with Aspergers syndrome is that he doesn't have anyone to phone.

[anotheoldgit]

Isn't it strange, that although the police have given a very detailed description of these three robbers in the link below, both the BBC and this link failed to state their ethnicity, surely that would have been a great help towards tracing these suspects?

http://news.stv.tv/sc...lent-playpark-attack/

[sinderella]

if parents want to buy a phone then this can only add to the safety ot the child.
if you have a decent car and are driving home tonight and someone sticks a knife to your throat and steals it,is it your FAULT for spending too much on a car.

[bednobs]

personally i don't understand how phones add to safety, and this article just proves it

[friedgreentomato]

nobody needs a phone but if his parents are happy to buy one then that is noones business but theirs.

Also you don't have to have a contract to have an iphone!!

[jno]

I would have thought that, if you wanted your kid to have a mobile (and there are good reasons or this - eg if they ever get lost or delayed), there are much cheaper and more basic ones available that are less likely to be targeted by thieves.

[woofgang]

my monthly contract all in is 20 quid, before that I had an iphone on payg. They are on ebay secondhand for loads less than 400 quid.
need one? maybe not but why shouldn't he have one? why shouldn't he be able to walk where he wants without being mugged?

[tamborine]

An entreprenaur, marketing them to OAPs

[hc4361]

Anybody only 'needs' a £10 mobile on PAYG. I love my smartphone but I keep it out of sight when I'm out and about.

[crisgal]

my daughter has an iphone and she is just 11. Its old, second hand, and she bought it herself. it cost £120 and is PAYG.

Her friends mainly have blackberries, and some have newer iphones

It's no-one else's business what she has.

[rozia]

I don't have an iphone, and im 3 times this boys age. I have a Samsung very basic, not smart at all, just takes and receives messages and calls, so no risk of me getting mugged for it, even if i placed on my head fully lit up in a dark park. I can afford an iphone, just never had any interest in it, and the cost doesn't justify the spend. Anyway, back to the question, this boy should not really have an iphone, a basic phone is just right, he could have been seriously hurt, and you don't expect a boy so young to keep it hidden, they like to show it off..i think an iphone should be for your 16th birthday, and not before.

[jno]

all very well saying it's nobody else's business, but if thieves make it their business, it's not much help to point out that they're misbehaving. As a parent I wouldn't (and didn't) buy jno jnr expensive gadgets to carry around when he was 12. After 16 or so you might consider changing your mind.

[rozia]

and unfortunately, there are dodgy people out there that steal just about anything, if his parents bought this for him, its not their fault he was mugged, or his fault, the mugger was the bad one here, and there are sadly a lot of them.

[anotheoldgit]

woofgang

/// why shouldn't he be able to walk where he wants without being mugged? ///

In an ideal world the answer would be yes he should be able walk where he wants without being mugged.

But there is a flaw in this type of reasoning, we don't live in an ideal world, far from it.

jno has got it about right with his/her answer.

[bazwillrun]

Its nobodys business what they have, "need" is another matter entirely.

Who adult or child really "needs" most of their material possessions.

@AOG
typical BBC

[NOX]

No-one NEEDS an iphone, but I don't think it's anyone's business who has what. My daughter is 14 and has both an ipad and an iphone which she bought herself, so it's not my business and certainly not anyone else's and it's rude and cheeky to make assumptions about other people. If people seriously think 14 year olds are going to save up their pocket money to buy the Beanio and Dandy and few sweets at the weeklend then they're seriously not living in the real world- kids have moved with the times and some adults should too imho.

[tamborine]

kids here have these

http://www.myquadbike...k/Listing.aspx?id=267

[woofgang]

oooo I want one

[RATTER15]

I think that the smart phones can be a safety device.

I have an app on my phone that will give the exact location of my phone within a few meters.

I would be happy for my daughter to have this app on her phone, if im worried about her or she is taken ill somewhere and I need to know her whereabouts, I would just need to send a secret word to that phone, it would then respond with the exact location of the phone by means of a GPS location on a map.

This would obviously be in cooperation with the child and as my daughter is a severe epileptic it could come in very useful. As it is I don't use this facility as my daughter is in a relationship and her oh. keeps a close eye on her whereabouts.

It is also very useful if you should lose your phone.