For some kids a smartphone is essential. My daughters lab groups plan by group text their meetings at the.last minute. You have to have a smartphone for that. One kid who didn’t was really messed up by the lack. His parents ended up sending him to get one in the middle of the second week , he was so desperate
FWIW…the FCC chairman has clearly stated …Internet access is NOT a basic human right.
Really, one needs to have this stated in a full sentence?
Back to regular programing…
It’s not “necessary” - but you handicap your kid IMO if you don’t have one. A computer may not strictly be “necessary” either if there are computer labs in the library, but you handicap your kid if he doesn’t have a computer and can’t work in his dorm room or at hours when the library isn’t open. I would value it over, for example, a refrigerator in the room.
S1 graduated in '11 without a smartphone. At that time on his campus, I felt like he was starting to get left behind. Professors would email changes at the last second and he wouldn’t have access. D is entering this fall and I wouldn’t send her without one. She’s dyslexic though and has her audio textbooks on it.
I value my internet more than central a/c or indoor plumbing. I am an information hound and research addict and hate shopping. Very helpful on all counts. Now if rural America really had high speed access…
I made it through 4 years of college without a phone at all - not just no smartphone, but no phone, period. I am graduating this year. It’s definitely not necessary. Inconvenient, yes, but less than you think.
@nycparent12. I would trade the land line and get a dryer. Soft towels much better than stiff scratchy ones line dried according to my kids. (I actually like line dried but my kids hate them.) Seriously though, why the land line if you have a cell phone? We kept if for 911 service when kids were young, but that has improved on cell phones now with locator sw’s our there. Hopefully you aren’t paying more than $10 a month for a land line. Back to topic, what @maya54 said is true, there are some situations where the smartphone is essential in working with others on group projects, and they can have a lot of those in college.
Hey I made it through college in the '70s without a smartphone!! And I did fine. :-h
Yeah, and in the 80’s all we had to answer our questions at home was the 1959 encyclopedia set my parents got as a wedding gift. I wouldn’t choose to go back, though.
I’m in the more tech sooner camp. Even my 6th grader has had a smartphone since this past Christmas (and I can use it to make sure she gets there safely when she bikes 4 miles to summer camp).
For us older folks – the the “Over 40” app uses the camera as a magnifying glass for when you forget your reading glasses. Also, depositing checks by phone rather than driving to the ATM is great.
I’m a college student, so sorry for butting into the parent forum, but I wanted to put in my two cents. 
I went into freshman year with a flip phone, but when I discovered that half of my classes had group projects and such, and that group members religiously used the GroupMe app, I broke down and bought a smart phone. But I purchased a cheap Windows phone model with a $30/mo. plan, so it’s not like I was breaking the bank or anything. If it hadn’t been for GroupMe, I would have been just fine with the flip phone, though.
Hey thanks runner019. I actually really appreciate hearing from students.
@blueskies2day - one day I may get a dryer, because it would be convenient in the winter. I actually prefer sheets and towels dried on the line but I am afraid to say more on this topic out of fear of drawing more ire from other parents. I am already getting called a “deer in the headlights” for my go-slow approach to tech gadgets! LOL.
Honestly I still have a landline, because (1) my aged parents only ever call me on that line, (2) cell phone reception inside my house sucks and (3) to maintain permission from my employer to work at home, I have to certify that I have a land line.
Clothesline are not good for our household because pollens are picked up by things hung out on the line, unlike the dryer. We are all allergic to pollens here.
@Himom. Yeah, I read that recently, but we mostly seem to be allergic to dust in my house.
We’re allergic to dust, dust mites, mold, pollens, and many other environmental things that are hard to limit exposure to, but we perservere. Having the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner has made a HUGE difference in our household, since we HATE vacuuming but the Roomba goes under our bed, couch, and furniture and really DOES reduce the dust and dust mites in our household.
I made it through the college in the early 70’s with one phone at the end of the hallway that we all shared.
I have an IPhone now.
While neither of my kids had smartphones in college…I don’t think that would be the case if they were freshmen now.
Even my husband finally got his first smart phone. I knew he was a convert when he got rid of all of the folded, old road as in his car.
Now, the Roomba is something I will put on my next birthday list.
Are you freaking serious? Your son is just one those rare people who don’t conform, I would be proud if I had a child who doesn’t conform as easily but by saying the truth of what they really like. I honestly find smartphones more as an entertainment device than a device that is needed. Cellphones are supposed to be solely for minimal communication, not for games and social media - talking and texting are enough.
I’m going to be a high school senior and when people tell me, “So when are you getting an iPhone X or a Samsung Galaxy X?” and provides me with invalid evidence, I say, “At least I’m saving money for college and other stuff that I actually need in life as well as taking advantage of time instead of being hooked to Snapchat and Twitter with wasting my mom’s money, I don’t want that for her.” Then they blank out and change the subject or if they are spoiled they argue that it is actually a “need”. I’ll get a smartphone when they flip and slide phones are out of stock, that’s the day I will get one.
I think it is currently necessary (or at the very least essential) for life, much less college.
@nycparent12 My daughter uses a prepaid tracfone which gives triple minutes on any amount we purchase. She is able to talk and text. We don’t purchase a data plan. We spend about $30 every three months before we reload more minutes which get tripled for free. For internet she uses a tablet. I am thinking of upgrading her phone so will also look into what is out there. I will see if I can maintain a tracfone plan for the triple minutes.
@nycparent, one of the things we like best about the Roomba is that it doesn’t disburse dust throughout the air the way traditional vacuum cleaners used to, making all of us have allergy attacks. It can also be programmed to go off on the dates and times you pre-set, which makes it fairly mindless, other than periodically cleaning out the plastic bin and cleaning the filters.
Smartphones really don’t have to cost much more than flip phones, depending on the phone you get and the company you are with to provide service. Our 4 TMobile non-contract lines for unlimited phone, text and 2.5gb data is $100/month plus tax. There are inexpensive phones you can get at walmart, amazon, and a host of other places that are not on contract. It really is a matter of priorities and how folks choose to spend their time and money. I must say that we have finally decided that the smartphones are MUCH better navigators for US than the GPS systems we had been using which would navigate us into the ocean or in a city other than the city we were driving in. The smartphones have never done those things.
“Cellphones are supposed to be solely for minimal communication, not for games and social media - talking and texting are enough.”
Who says?