Kids and cell phones

When should kids get cell phones?
With technology today, we have so many advantages that we didn’t years ago. Using email or texting now easily dodges a once painful conversation. We have all heard how Brett Favre retired (or was it unretired) via text – or maybe it was when he decided to play for the Vikings – either way, it was done via text. It wasn’t an awkward phone call or in front of a press conference.
In high school I worked at least 20 hours a week. But, I was still a teenager and sometimes I would be scheduled to work when my friends were planning an event that I was SURE would ruin me if I missed. So, everyone once in awhile, I had to “call in sick”. This wasn’t easily done. I would have to craft my excuse then contemplate how I would sound on the phone. There was always hesitation, some cold sweats and an adrenaline rush that came along doing such a scheme. Once the manager was on the phone, I would map out what I had planned in my head and then there would be the silence. Once they said “ok”, I was off the hook and ready to enjoy my sick time.


Today, if I have a DR appt, a sick child or if I am sick I simply open up my computer and send an email to my manager. Then, I go to a website to log my time appropriately. I don’t even have to talk live to my manager, just send the email off to cyberspace.
With this in mind, I wonder how “younger” generations have developed a good conscious. For them, they have always had cell phones and email to deliver messages they rather not give via voice. My son and step-daughter BEG for a cell phone. My response has been, “Who would you call?” they call out a name. I then point to the landline phone and tell them they are more than welcome to use it. They try the “But what if something happens and I need to get in touch with you?” I ask them WHERE and WHEN are they that we don’t know where they are? They are 11. We are their personal chauffeurs. I know where they are, whom they are with because I am the delivery person. They don’t take the bus (like when I was young) or hardly even bike more than a few blocks away.
Ok, time for a Kris history story:
My pseudo stepsister (my dad and her mom were a couple, living together, but not married) and I have stories of these bus treks. Looking back we were 8 and 10 years old. One time, we got on the wrong direction of the bus from State Street (yes, we were 8 and 10 hanging out on state street on the weekends) and we ended up on the far west side. The Bus route was ending for the day and it wasn’t scheduled to go back to the downtown area. So, we got off the bus, looked over the neighborhood, chose a house, knocked on the door and simply asked if we could use their phone. The older couple let us in their home, let us use their phone and even plugged in the Atari game for us to play as we waited for a ride to pick us up. If anything, back THEN we needed a cell phone because our parents truly did not know WHERE we were.

I know there are many times I send off a text or an email that I probably wouldn’t SAY verbally. There used to be “drunk dialing” oh lord, now you have cell phones with built in camera. God help us all.

Now, trying to join technology with my own kids is oil and water in my mind. Do I really want them to text or email something that they wouldn’t say verbally? They are building their social networks and in the process of gaining freedoms. For me, adding in opportunities to be “loose” with their tongues (via text) could put them in situations they may not be ready for. Why make this teen thing happen any sooner than it already does? I want them to be mature and confident before they acquire tools that shrug off such responsibilities.

There are website just to help determine texting lingo. I dread the day when I see a message one of my kid’s types and I DON’T understand it.
http://www.lingo2word.com/

I may be a stick in the mud in the kid’s eyes, but if I can spare them reflections from their painful youth, it will be worth it.