If talking about “how great things used to be” makes me old, then consider me an antique, because the notion of kids “needing” cell phones baffles me.
I’m not a technophobe, honestly. I have a cell phone myself (but I some-times wish I didn’t). They are certainly useful devices.
Just not for children.
In the interactions I have with teens, cell phone use has been unnecessary. The main use of cell phones I see for teens these days is to text — that is, to say things they can’t actually say. Well, I’m a parent now, so I don’t like secrecy. Teens have a right to privacy, but only to a point.
That darned sense of invincibility that teens have makes them do dumb things. The last thing I want to do is enable my daughter or son to send compromising images, messages or the like.
Jon Akers of the Kentucky Center for School Safety recently wrote an essay that supports my notion. Akers’ research found that student phones increased bullying, sexual harassment, cheating and criminal activity. These ideas are common sense, if you think about it — as is the idea that text-obsessed teens will try anything to keep chatting through their school lessons, which could bring down their grades — but too many parents don’t think enough.
I’ve conceded in past debates with my wife that a cell phone might be necessary by the time our children learn to drive, but Akers’ research disputes even that notion. He found that teen drivers with cell phones are far more likely to get involved in a life-threatening accident than those without, due in large part to teens talking/ texting while driving.
While a cell phone might have been useful when I was a young driver and suffered a blown tire or other mishap, I managed to get by, and Akers’ research makes sense. Teens have a hard enough time mastering their skills behind the wheel. Why give them one more way to lose focus and crash into a mailbox or something?
If you need to reach your child during the school day, call the school. If they’re at a friend’s house, call that house. In the minuscule event of a terrorist attack or other calamity, you’ll know quickly enough. If they get in accident, they’ll let you know the same way that you let your parents know back in the day.
If mom and dad feel compelled to check up on Junior eight times a day, they need to cut the cord.
My parents had no way to continually check up on me, and I turned out fine. I know that there’s nothing I can do to curb this trend (more than 90 percent of teens have cell phones), but it’s nice to dream of a world without incessant texting and inane calling.
Cell phones are useful, handy and convenient. But they’re not necessary. More parents should BE parents and make their children learn the difference.
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