While it may be difficult to teach an old dog new tricks, the same definitely can’t be said about the younger generation. With that being said, it shouldn’t be surprising that kids today are getting mobile phones at a much earlier age than we were back in the day.

How early exactly? Well, according to a report by The Telegraph, the Personal Finance Education Group discovered that 35% of their respondents owned a mobile phone as early as eight. That’s quite a significant number and somewhat alarming at that. However, considering that this survey was done in the UK where mobile phone services are relatively more affordable, it’s understandable why more people, kids included, get the chance to own a mobile phone.

They also concluded that owning a mobile phone helps teach kids about money management:

It found that children as young as seven were offering to do chores in exchange for cash to buy ringtones.

At least there’s a good side to all of this, but personally, I still cringe at the idea of a child so early on in life becoming attached to a mobile phone. There’s just something so wrong about it, but I guess this is just a reflection of how the times are certainly changing.

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