At least I can safely say this, my ENTIRE FAMILY has iPhones (Factory Unlocked to boot, as we have T-Mobile, we had them since 2002, and don't plan to stop now) (and we are officially an Apple household, though we have been Mac since 1996 or so). I have also given him an iBook G4 to use for simple internet and class assignments. If he would like to do anything more, theres always an Intel Mac somewhere in the house available for him to use.I just activated a first generation iPhone for my 8 year old brother yesterday, and handed him the phone. I have activated Parental Controls, disabled In-App Purchases, Explicit Content, and more. I have set a Volume Limit to 75%.There are a few educational apps on there, and all of the music he would ever listen to. What else should I do to this iPhone? He has proven to all of us that he is responsible with the iPhone, and there is "Mom" "dad" "Sister" and myself in the Favorites section of the contacts list.You are never too young to have technology, especially since it is now 2012. Just because you didn't have nice things as a kid (I didn't either), doesn't mean you should bag on kids that do now...grow up and stop crying. You're free to choose the age of an iPhone or cell phone in general for the people in your family.His Plan on a T-Mobile Classic Family Shared Plan:500 Minutes (all to himself)Unlimited Text Messages (shared)Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes250MB Web of 3G (N/A anyway as any iPhones on T-Mobile can only do EDGE)Parental Controls enabled on the account level, with a complete stop when he reaches 500 allotted minutes, unless the call is to 911 or in-network, which includes family.About our plan:4 LinesUnlimited Family Text MessagesUnlimited Minutes for my number & parents numbers.Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes for non-unlimited numbers.Unlimited WebALL Unlocked iPhone 4-8GB, except the 8year old's line, which is a first generation iPhone. These were bought from the Apple Store.I personally had AT&T and Verizon , but jumped back on my parent's T-Mobile plan to save myself some cash$175 a month...Can not beat this, considering all lines have smartphones (iPhones)