You actually right.
I didn't get a phone till i graduated from secondary school, it is like a policy in my family. But it was in those days when the world has not been fully digitalised, nowadays a lot has changed.

Even if you prevent your kids from having smartphones that doesn't mean they would not have access to it through their friends in school.

What most parents don't know is that there are phones for kids, which is a lot different from the ones adults are using. It is preferable for a child to have access to phone at home than to have access to it through a friend who that has it.