The Kindergartner and the cell phone

I was surprised to find the other week another person's picture showing their 8 year old child with a cell phone. A cell phone she said he earned due to having good grades. I began to think, am I the only one who thinks an 8 year old should not be holding a cell phone that THEY own? I was 18 when I got my first cell phone. It really wasn't needed until I was driving longer distances on the road by myself. Maybe it's just my age showing but I don't see any reason why a child (13 and younger) would need a cell phone. If you need your mom or dad up to that point you should be able to reach them somehow without having your own cell phone. Either you should be around some other adult or with your parents yourself. I have heard other parents argue that they want to be able to reach they child at all times. What happened to teaching them responsibility? Teaching them that when you ask them to come home at a certain time or be somewhere at a certain time they are there, if not they lose privileges? I have also heard parents argue that they need to give their children a cell phone because its a much harsher world than when we were growing up. I don't understand how giving your 8 year old a cell phone will keep them from being bullied at school. Are they going to call you up and say such and such is picking on me? No you still need to be the parent and teach them how to handle those situations. What is giving your child a cell phone really going to teach them? It's going to teach them that they need to be connected 24/7 at a very young age. Its going to teach them that texting is the way you communicate instead of running around on the playground. If you can't trust that your child is going to be responsible when out playing by themselves in the neighborhood, then maybe they shouldn't be playing by themselves yet. If you are going to constantly worry about them getting kidnapped then maybe you need a different plan of action. A cell phone is not going to keep them from someone taking off with them. I see far more negatives in this case than positives. I see parenting getting pushed to the wayside by handing your child a technological device so young. A cell phone is not going to protect them from this so claimed harsher world. You the parent is going to teach them how to handle people in this harsher world. Here's a news article that I found very interesting.
 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/kids-cell-phones-child-phone/story?id=13385091