High School Student a Cellphone

¶ … High School Student a Cellphone No one really enjoys listening to someone else's conversation on a cellphone. It can be annoying, loud, and obnoxious. But no matter how much cellphones and cellphone users may irritate parents, few would chose to go back to an era before cellphones. If you're stranded on the road with a flat tire, a cellphone can save your life. If you're wandering in an unfamiliar section of a city, a cellphone can enable you to call a friend and reorient yourself.

And if you're in a dangerous situation, a cellphone can mean that a police or fireman is only a few digits away. That may be why, "according to a recent Pew Research Center report, 89% of American families own multiple cell phones, and 57% of the children ages 7 to 17 in those families have their own. A Nielsen study found that 35% of kids between the ages of 8 and 12 already owned a cell phone" (Yofee 2010).

Despite all of the advantages a cellphone can provide the user, it is strange to think how many parents are reluctant to let their teenage children own cellphones. Teenagers are more rather than less likely than adults to be in high-risk situations. A new teen driver may have more difficulty coping with the fear and stress of driving what is still an unfamiliar mode of transportation -- a car -- on a highway.

The teen may panic at any signs of car trouble, but a telephone can provide him or her with a phone number of a mechanic, towing service, or even a knowledgeable friend at a moment's notice. A teen may be in desperate need of a ride from a parent if the teen's friends are drinking and the teen has no way home. The ease of having a cellphone nearby in a potential crisis can be the difference between life and death for a teen.

Many of the problems parents foresee with cellphones, such as the phone's potential to distract, can be easily curtailed with discipline. Forcing a teen to pay his or her own cellphone bill will reduce overuse and abuse of the phone for mere 'socializing.' Not permitting texting or even blocking certain phone numbers can make the phone more of a safety device than an extension of the teen's social life.

"Your teen is probably going to want a regular cell phone, but do consider setting some limits, like on the number of minutes that can be used, sending text messages, downloading ringtones, and even web access, or you might find that your bill is a lot larger than you think at the end of the month. You might even have your child 'turn in the phone' once they get home so that they don't stay up late talking to friends when they should be studying or sleeping" (Iannelli 2010).

Most teens will want a cellphone, and allowing the teen to use the cellphone as he or she desires can also be an important way to teach responsibility. Having the teen do chores and/or make a financial contribution to justify the use of a cellphone for social reasons (such as exceeding a minimum of text messages in exchange for doing the dishes or chauffeuring younger brothers and sisters to activities) can be a powerful incentive for the teen to obey.

The key is setting ground rules and sticking by them: if the teen fails to get Bs on his next report card, then confiscate the cellphone upon his or her return home every night until all homework is complete. Buying prepaid cellphone cards can be useful in forcing teens to sick to a budget. After the attacks on the World Trade Center, many parents bought cellphones for their children as an additional safety precaution, out of fear of preventing teens from communicating with the family during a worst case scenario.

"Even without the added concerns of school shootings and terrorism warnings, who doesn't feel good about easily being able to reach their child" (Mulrean 2010). Many phones also have a GPS capability that enables parents to track their teen's movements. While some might protest this is over-bearing, some parents feel that if they pay for the phone, this gives them the right to use it to its fullest capability.

Parents say the GPS tracking system also enables them to give more freedom to their teens with peace of mind as they know the teen's whereabouts. Of course, this might be seen as excessively paranoid in some parent's eyes, or intruding upon the child's privacy. But even reviewing the child's cellphone bill and noting an excessive amount of calls late at night can be an important illustration of what the child is doing.

If that is the case, the parent needs to talk to his or her teen about doing too much socializing and not enough studying. Of course, the most obvious objection to the purchase of a cellphone for a teen is the issue of texting and driving or simply talking on the phone while driving. If the teen abuses this privilege, this can be easily remedied by getting the teen a phone without the option of text messaging.

And if the parent 'catches' the teen talking and driving, the most obvious fitting punishment is to take away driving privileges rather than phone privileges. As cellphones become more and more ubiquitous in our society, teaching teens to use them responsibly is essential. Just as teens learn to drive, first through lessons, then through a learner's permit and finally gaining full adult privileges to operate a vehicle, teaching a teen to use a cellphone responsibility is not an all-or-nothing proposition.

Getting a younger teen a very basic plan without text messages, teaching the teen to earn phone privileges with.