I’m with brooklyn on this, I also went to a very frum school, and had a great name, then convinced my parents to get me a phone in 10th grade when it was still rare for kids to have phones (I was the third girl to have a phone in a grade of 200), and I can honestly say that because of the TEXTING a lot of thing happened that I would never want my kids to go through. My parents did look at my bills every month but I don’t think that really helps so much being that they often didn’t question the numbers that kept appearing in the bills or I would just say it was one of my girl friends.
Based on my experiences, I’m very pro kosher phones because I think it’s very important for kids to be able to contact someone in case of an emergency. But on the flip side, kids will be kids and that’s all part of growing up and maturing, and they will be able to get around whatever you want usually.
Illini, it sounds like you are coming from a more modern perspective than brooklyn and I for that matter, but I agree with your points. I had a lot of friends that came from more open minded homes while I came from a slightly more sheltered home yet being that they were exposed to more, they felt less of a pull towards it. Each situation is different though.