(kids would be so much better off ... wasting less ... their parents' money on their phones)
Well, that's
entirely up to the parents isn't it.
We have provided none of our children with phones. They have however all acquired phones, but they have done this by working and earning the money (babysitting, paper rounds, helping on market stalls etc), which I'm sure is good for them.
We have provided then with internet access, via a house full of computer. Of a standard perfectly adequate for doing homework, that is. When they decide they want to use their computers for things like watching hi-res movies they buy their own bigger and faster ones, if they think that's a higher priority use of their earnings than better bicycles or festival tickets.