Is it weird that I still don’t have a phone at nearly 16?
I’m 15 turning 16 soon and I just finished secondary school, but I still don’t have a proper phone
We actually have an old phone at home but it’s broken and my dad doesn’t want to fix it. My mum keeps trying to convince him but nothing’s changed yet.
Right now I communicate with my friends mostly through Microsoft Teams using my school account, but since I finished school there, the account will probably get deactivated soon. So I’m honestly worried I’ll lose contact with some people over summer.
The thing is, I don’t think it’s because my parents think I’m irresponsible or anything. I get pretty good grades, I already have a PC, and I know how to control myself online. I’ve even told them I’d be completely fine with restrictions or screen time limits if needed.
At the moment, I’m using a really old Nokia phone, and I know this sounds dramatic, but I genuinely get embarrassed taking it out in front of other people. My friends are respectful about it and don’t bully me or anything, but I still feel really left out sometimes because everyone else has group chats, sends videos, messages each other whenever, etc.
I’m also starting college/sixth form in September, and I’m scared I’ll seem really disconnected or old school when trying to make new friends there.
I know phones aren’t everything, but nowadays they kind of feel necessary just to communicate normally. Am I overreacting or is this actually unusual now?