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William "Will" Healy II uses his cell phone only to check in at home, call a friend or snap a picture.

Aside from that, he says he does not use his cell too often.

That's not too unusual, since he's not a doctor or high-powered business executive.

In fact, he's only 8.

"I got it when I was seven," Will said last week at Camp Finberg in Norton. "My mom's friend borrowed it, but I'm getting it back next week." Will's father, Bill, says his son has a cell phone so he can contact his parents for any reason.

"It's just so he would be able to reach us for the time that he is away from us," Healy. "It's just nice."

Though young Will's phone is not yet glued to his ear, the fact that he has one - a Sprint - is a growing trend.

If the trend persists, 60 percent of the "tween" population - youngsters 8 to 12 years old - will be using cell phones by 2010, according to a 2006 study by the Yankee Group, a market research firm.

Still, the number of tweens with cell phones does not come close to their teen counterparts.

One in five teens say they cannot function without their cell phone, research shows, and if forced to choose, would give up TV, rather than part with their phones.

But the devotion doesn't end there.

One-third said they would quit listening to the radio, playing video games or going to the mall if it meant giving up their phone.

And it's not just dialing that has teens hooked. Text messaging is becoming ubiquitous.

In the Disney Mobile/Harris Interactive study, 44 percent of U.S. teens named text messaging as their primary form of communication. Up to 65 percent admit they have used it to make calls and send text messages in the classroom and more than a quarter said they have sent a text at the dinner table.

Text messaging may also be having an effect on teens' romance skills: 14 percent have asked someone on a date via text message, and 7 percent have broken up with someone via text.

Teens are much more frequent users of text messaging then tweens - 74 percent compared with 26 percent - as well as IMing, or Internet Messaging - 37 percent compared with 9 percent.

To put in perspective the adolescant addiction to the cell phone: teens are on their cells three hours and 45 minutes a day during the summer, according to the Disney Mobile/Harris Interactive survey.

Elizabeth Englander, a psychology professor at Bridgewater State College, says there can be positive and negative aspects to a child as young as 7 or 8 years old having a cell. She says it all depends on weighing a phone's pros and cons.

"They can be a great convenience. Say if you're wife is at the supermarket and you think of something you want her to get, it's great that you can just call her, instead of making a second trip later. But, they can also be a disturbance," Englander said. "People can be slaves to their phones."

She says there is an advantage to a younger child having a cell phone to call a parent during an emergency or to be picked up, but that kids and parents must be aware of the possible dangers.

Among them is a dangerous person calling and finding out information about the child, or someone sending him or her pornographic pictures or videos.

"If someone is 12 years old and they have a cell phone and someone dangerous calls them, (the child) might be savvy enough to say, 'Hey, you're a creep. Go away,'" Englander said.

But she fears a 7-, 8- or 9-year-old may be more naive.

Englander added that a child accidentally downloading a product that costs a lot of money is another potential danger.

Paul Smith, an assistant counselor at Camp Finberg, says 8 years old is too young to have a cell phone, and that parents should not worry too much if their children are in someone's care for the day.

"They're here. They're at camp, so they're safe," said Smith, 17.

That opinion is shared by Mansfield resident Derek House, whose 8-year-old son, Devlyn, also attends Camp Finberg. But, unlike Will, Devlyn, borrows a phone when he needs to make a call.

"The camp has all the phone numbers and the schools have all the phone numbers," House said. "If you don't trust the school, you should probably be looking for another school."

All his son Devlyn knows is that he cannot wait to get his hands on a cool phone.

The same holds true for his buddy, Will.

"I can't wait until I get a new one," Will said. "(Mine is) like 3 or 4 years old."