I'll be the first admit that the Firefly "tween" phone is a bit creepy. Like the idea of a children's credit card or lipstick for preadolescent girls, a kiddie cell phone gives me the shivers. Or maybe I'm just jealous and spiteful. Isn't there anything left exclusively for adults these days?

But that's an argument that probably won't carry much weight around here. And despite my uneasiness, I'm beginning to see the logic in the arguments that kids should have cell phones. After all, we're not living in the vacuums we were 10 years ago before cellular technology went rampant. Why should our children (well, at least other people's children) be expected to?

Oddly enough, all of the other informational benefits of technology are being dumped on children at a young age: computers, the Internet. Most of us have probably dealt with the unpleasant reality that our offspring probably know a lot more about the inner workings of the home PC than we do (with the exception of you engineers on this list). So why is there resistance to the idea of a child with a cell phone? Why is the cell phone such a symbol of adulthood?

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that all of the important things we do all day that require us to wear our gaudy phones strapped to our belt loops would seem insignificant if the 8-year-old in the park is placing calls along with the rest of us. Could it be resentment? Who knows? All I know is if I back this, there better not be anymore talk of lowering the driving age.

E-mail me at kfitchard@primediabusiness.com.