Individual Interest-Do children in grade school need cell phones??

I have a ten-year-old daughter that we have been arguing with about whether or not she could have a cell phone/mobile device.  The desire to have a cell phone, in my observation as a parent is to be able to stay in contact with friends via social media.  My daughter does have an iPod, but it only connects where WiFi is available.  We have dabbled in social media, only to have to have some very tough discussions about what others are doing (vaping in 5^th) or bullying via social media apps.    In talking to the counselors at Hillcrest School, about 75% of the children in my daughters 5^th grade class have mobile devices that are brought to school-is that good or bad? 

The overall research design would be correlational and the methods used would be primarily surveys, data gathering and a structured interviews with the kiddos.  I would like to get a better understanding on how many kids have cell phones at school and why parents believe they need to provide their children with a cell phone.  Is it because it’s just easier to give into the children because they want them and justify that it is easier to get in contact with them? Do grades have any correlation to having a cell phone. I would use would create a survey that could be handed out at school (with the approval from the Principal) for parents from Kindergarten through 6^th grade at Hillcrest Elementary here in Butte to answer.  Questions would include whether or not they send a cell phone to school with their child and why they feel they need to.  I would also ask if there are any restrictions, such as leaving phone in common area for the night.  For those that do have a cell phone, I would want to see if they have access to social media via a personal account, or through a parent account.  If so, which apps do they use (Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Musically, etc.) as well as estimate how much time the child spends with the phone.  Does the parent monitor conversations?  

I would then ask permission of the family to see the last semester report cards for grades 3 through 6^th.  (They don’t receive letter grades until 3^rd.)   This data would be used to correlate those that have cell phones with grades.  Do kids without cell phones/mobile devices get better grades? 

Finally, I’d like to conduct interviews with the children to get their take on cell phones.  Questions asked would be about being left out if they do not have access to social media or have a cell phone.  How long do they think they spend on their devices?   I think getting a base understanding of where access to social media and mobile devices are with grade school children today could spin research into other areas.