Preteen kids I mean, jesus loving christ my mother didn't have a phone until she was in her 40s.
I don't think the kids in this movie are preteens
and, besides that, that means your mom was born no later than 1974. and I'm just gonna take away a few more years because you're speaking past-tense and you said "40s." cell phones weren't even a thing when your mom was born. it stands to reason that it would take time for her to get one. but at this point many of them are affordable, and they're all useful for one thing or another, and there's not a reason to not get your child one
I've already run across a 3 year old with a smartphone at a gas station.
unless they're three years old. because that's just ridiculous. how often does your kid even leave your sight at that age?