Is 11 too young to text friends?

My 11 yo son has my old iPhone that he carries around for games and also uses the iMessage and FaceTime to keep in touch with me and dad when he’s on WiFi which is almost always especially since he connects to our hotspots from our phones if he’s out with one of us. I never really thought about him talking to friends until the last day of school he told me he got some phone numbers from his friends and I told him “how cool! Let me have their parents numbers so I can call them to hook you guys up for movies or to go to each other’s houses etc”. He looked at me weird and said ok.Later on I saw him texting someone and I asked if he was texting daddy and he said no he was on a group chat with his friends on iMessage. I realized oh duh if he can iMessage me he can iMessage other people. I’m sort of on the fence because I don’t mind him texting but at the same time they’re all girls except him and I don’t feel comfortable with my son having this kind of access to so much contact. He’s already hurt one girls feelings (one who is his close friend but she likes him and he’s oblivious) by asking her for another girls number that he sort of likes and responding poorly when she pointedly told him no. (”UUUGHHHHhhhhhhhhHHHHH!!!!!”- My Son)Sorry for the wall of text. I can’t decide if I’m a helicopter parent or if I’m actually too lenient. It’s only been a few days but my husband says I’m being too overprotective and he’s getting to the age he should be chatting with friends. via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2Kp2R4B