Interesting that some people here don’t think it’s a safety issue. Many years ago (more than I care to admit) I had a friend whose older sister was taking a class at night and had to drive to and from school. There was no such thing as cell phones in those days. Her parents did not like the idea of her being alone at night so they got a CB radio for the car so she could contact them if the car broke down or if anything happened. If nothing else, if gave the parents peace of mind.
Many years ago (not as many as the first story) I was driving home late at night. My car broke down. There were no cell phones in those days either. I was not in the greatest neighborhood, and there were no payphones to be found. Luckily there was a residential hotel and the people were nice enough to let me use their phone otherwise I would have been stranded.
I got my first cell phone several years ago when my father a”h was living with me. If he needed to contact me, I wanted him to be able to. Without a cell phone how would he reach me when I was in the car or at a student’s home? (Don’t say he could have called me at their house. It wouldn’t have been fair to make a man in his 80s have to keep track of my schedule.)
Finally, one day I was in a cell phone store getting my boss’s cell phone repaired. There was a man their (not frum) buying his son a cell phone as a bar mitzvah present. I must admit I thought it was ridiculous for a kid that age to have a cell phone. I thought it was ridiculous until I heard the father say, “Now we’ll be able to talk to each other without your mother’s interference.”
There are many reasons to have cell phones. If you don’t want one, don’t have one. If you don’t want YOUR children to have one, don’t get them one. But please don’t impose your made-up chumrahs on others.