Why do kids have Phones like the IPhone at such a young age?

I'm going to grade 8 and literally everyone in my grade last year had an IPhone or BlackberryZ10 except me. I didn't really care because I knew that I could still talk to people face to face. I wasn't until the last month of school until I figured out I coukdn't do that anymore. All of my friends had phones which they were over addicted to. Whenever I went to talk to them they wold always be on their IPhones. I tried to go and talk to them but they wouldn't put down their phones. So I gave up and started hanging out with my younger friends (Grade 4, 5, 6). But they also had phones, which they would never put down. Why does this have to happen. Can't people ever my age engage on real life conversation. I miss the days when kids would come over to each others houses hand out (play Video Games etc.) and have tons of fun just like that. What happened with the '00 kids?

Added (1). I'm not getting a phone until highschool, and that is my parent's final decision.
Oh and can't kids just get normal phones instead of smartphones. I think that only techsavy kids deserve smartphones and also if they are mature enough to put them down.

It because we're in the 21st century.

You are So right and I'll be danged if I can figure it out. There's no reason a kid in your age group should be hampered with a phone, it's the parents who are out of their minds, sounds like you are smart and responsible. See if you can organize a play party or something fun and invite them over… No phones. Maybe someday you can be a responsible and caring parent and just let your kids be children.

Technology is big right now and you can't stop the popularity of smart phones
try communicating with your friends using technology -- Facebook, Instagram, iMessage (iPod Touch or iPad)
Ask your parents if you can do social media (Facebook and Instagram are the biggest for communication)
You can still call your friends on the phone to talk or hang out at each other's houses (I still do this)

I do think its good kids learn about technology even at a young age, it will play a big part in their life and new ideas may come out of it. Ideas like Facebook, yelp, linked in, twitter… Etc. Ideas at Apple come from people growing up learning about technology.
At age 8 I would not get them an iphone, but I think an ipad it ok as they can use imessage over Wi-Fi and learn about it and be supervised that way. I would also make sure they get an maintain good grades otherwise it goes away.