I'm young-and I've had a phone since freshman year of highschool. A large part of the reasoning that I got a phone at a young age was the fact that I'd be miles away from 'town'-a payphone, public building where I could use one or restauraunt-and a majority of the time, I'd be there alone. It's also prudent to have a phone on you when you're going trail-riding (if not everywhere, then at least here). There are too many cases of dogs going after someone or a horse, theft, ect, for it to be really 'safe' without a phone. Even if you can't stop something like that from happening, you can at least, call for help.

PDJ, I think that having a phone at a young age really depends largely on circumstance. True, some people don't need one but there are cases where it's a legitimately good idea to have one, even if someone is a young individual.