I'm 22 and only have a regular cell phone. I didn't get a cell phone until I got my car and even then I rarely used it. It was a prepaid phone. Kids don't need phones. I got along fine as a kid without a phone. Even once I got a phone I only needed it for emergencies.
My brother wanted an iPhone while he was in high school so he had to pay for it. I think that's how it should be.
Phones absolutely are a distraction in class. When I was in high school smart phones were just getting popular but regular phones were just as much of a distraction. People live on their phones these days. Driving while calling or texting, walking and texting, playing games or texting in class or at the dinner table... It's a great tool under the right circumstances, but pay attention to what else you're doing and get you nose out of the phone for a couple minutes when you have real people who might want to talk to you in person...
I had a group of friends locally several years ago that got together a lot. One day I was sitting in a friend's living room and no one is talking to each other because all they're doing is sitting there using their phones. I think they might have been texting each other part of the time. I was thinking I might as well go home and talk to them on Facebook or something...