That’s like saying the Internet is only “supposed” to be for researchers communicating with one another as originally designed. Or that TV is only “supposed” to broadcast news or radio is only “supposed” to originate from your local city and play only music.
A smart phone is a POCKET COMPUTER
Yeah, I’d get son a smartphone right now before he goes to college…give him some time to get familiar with using it before he gets to college and starts phoning home crying all his monthly data allowance is getting gobbled up in a couple of days because he doesn’t know how to use the phone. Too, getting phone now will quiet him up before he starts saying a more expensive new car is necessary for college…cars cost a lot more than smartphones.
I asked my 2 older teens their thoughts: and they agreed with @runner019.
Most important thing about smart phone: group texting which is not supported by older flip phones or non-smart phones.
in high school last year daughter led a 22-member band sectional. one kid didnt have access to the group texts and was constantly left out of communication. His parents came down (not too harshly) on my daughter for not making special accommodations inform their child about different things. It just was not on her mind to copy her texts and email this kid separately; and as this kid was 14 he didnt look at his email all to often. She learned about double checking/precision from this; but we also learned how easy it is to just be left out of communication. Teen and group communication has migrated to group texting; and if you want to be included, then it’s up to you to have the tools to receive it.
@lizard - thanks we are working on phone shopping now, with the benefit of the friendly advice here on CC.
As for a car, that’s not an issue. To explain (before people start yelling at me and calling me a snooty anti-car person), in NYC people are not really oriented towards cars because they are a nuisance to park, and because we have functional mass transit. After elementary school, most kids take the subway to school (or the bus, or walk or whatever works). My family does have a car, and we are teaching him how to drive but he will be going to an urban campus and there has been no discussion of his acquiring a car. Eventually he may want one but that would be something he would deal with.
It is much more likely that he would ask me for a second computer, e.g., a tablet to take to class so he can leave the laptop in the dorm room. He has been using his Kindle reader to access the internet when away from his laptop but it is really slow; by getting him a smartphone, we are meeting that desire for a second computer (or a third one if you include the Kindle reader).
“It is much more likely that he would ask me for a second computer, e.g., a tablet to take to class so he can leave the laptop in the dorm room. He has been using his Kindle reader to access the internet when away from his laptop but it is really slow; by getting him a smartphone, we are meeting that desire for a second computer (or a third one if you include the Kindle reader).”
IMO, on the scale of “absolute necessity for a college student <–> not necessary at all”, I think most of us would agree that a computer is on the left … but I’d have to put a smartphone relatively close to it, and I’d have stuck a Kindle reader and/or a tablet waaaaay to the right. How is a Kindle possibly more useful than a smartphone?
I agree a tablet is further to the right than the laptop or smartphone, but maybe not as far right as you may think. My DD actually felt the need for one because carrying her laptop all the time was cumbersome and her smartphone screen was too small for some tasks.
Really. I must have missed that memo. It would also shock everyone in the developed Asian countries who are way ahead of us in cell phone usage, using them to pay for everything, even more sophisticated information gathering than we currently do, etc. We are only now getting there (ApplePay) while they have been doing it for years already.
I also enjoy my iPad a lot, for exactly the reasons @ClaremontMom says. It is so much easier to take everywhere than a laptop, but so much easier to type and read than a phone. One of those cases where the “compromise” is extremely satisfying. But of course that is only if you have a lot of tasks/responsibilities that require being online all the time. For many apps the smartphone is still the way to go, and of course the (current) ultimate in powerful portability.
"To explain (before people start yelling at me and calling me a snooty anti-car person), in NYC people are not really oriented towards cars because they are a nuisance to park, and because we have functional mass transit. "
No need to explain NYC to us, we know what it is 
You know…lots of things aren’t “necessary” when a student goes to college. Students really don’t even need their own computers. There are labs everywhere…and flash drives. But really…how many here would send their kid to college without a computer?
I was out with a friend recently…my age (Dino) who still has a flip phone. He was perfectly fine.
I loved my Nokia flip phone…but when the numbers stopped showing on the screen…I could but replace it…at all (already had done so once via eBay). So…I got an iPhone. Do I need it? Probably not. Do I use it a lot for a huge variety of things? Yes.
And so do my kids.
Smartphones are now critical tools in some fields, like journalism. Journalism majors must have them.
“It is much more likely that he would ask me for a second computer, e.g., a tablet to take to class so he can leave the laptop in the dorm room.”
The basic rule is that you “need” two devices, although many people carry more than two. Smartphone and laptop is the most typical combo.
Tablet is the most optional since it can be replaced by a big smartphone. Or by a hybrid like the Microsoft Surface which could replace the laptop and tablet. I’m seeing a lot more of those these days.
Personally, I like the iPad mini and keyboard. Our kids preferred net books around campus and extra monitors at their residences, with or without a desktop computer. Laptops were deemed too bulky and heavy by them.
I use iPhone, iPad, and PC laptop for work, and graduate school, and for personal use. Need all three. Use iPad mostly for presentations at my job.
To me, the iPad is the most optional. We are a 2 iPad family, but they are used for media consumption / relaxation (Netflix, browsing the internet). You can’t actually create anything on them and there’s nothing that they do that a laptop doesn’t do. The same can’t be said of a smartphone - it does things a laptop can’t do. And the Kindle is even more single-use - so I really don’t get getting a kid a Kindle and then fretting about a smartphone, because it seems to me the smartphone was the more versatile thing. But to each his own!!
Yes to smart phones being necessary.
For taking notes and carrying around campus, it’s smart for the student to get what she or he will use. Both our kids decided that laptops were too big and heavy to schlep around and found net books ideal for notes in class. Ymmv.
Not to sound old, although I am, but what this thread really says to me is how utterly remarkable it is that we have all these technology choices and their corresponding supporting infrastructure and applications in such an incredibly short time relative to historical innovation. Necessary, unnecessary…to each their own. I think they are completely fantastic to have, but of course some disagree and think they are ruining civilization. Although I also think that faction is rapidly dwindling.
One of my kids will have all of their textbooks on the iPad.
@bookreader A kindle is a smart device.