QOTD: Does Your Child Have a Cell Phone? Why?

[tommysch]

[citation][nom]elbert[/nom]Kind of like saying the Hiroshima bomb was natural selection. There is nothing natural about cell phones.[/citation]

I dont see any relation between the two...

We bomb them, which Im not saying was a bad thing. You need to actively use a cellphone. YOU buy one to your child, its not like a stranger gave it to him and forced him to use it.

 

[grieve]

[citation][nom]pozaks[/nom]Also the childless posters, who are letting everyone know what they think they would do, are annoying as hell. Have some kids, raise them, then let us know what decisions you made. Your speculative parenting advice is useless.[/citation]
Agreed, unless you have a child you have no clue what decisions you may or may not make.

I gave my Son his first phone when he was 11… I do not have a home phone and I sure didn’t want his friends calling my Cell. He used a POS pay as you go phone until about a year ago (age 13) when I gave him my old iphone 3g which he still uses today. To monitor the porn situation on the iphone I told him @ any moment I can and will take that phone from you and inspect so keep it clean. Also I informed him no deleting the cache…. I look through it once or twice a week to monitor his internet usage.

 

[invlem]

They're more than welcome to have one, I won't tell them what to do with their own money. I certainly wouldn't pay for it though.

 

[elbert]

[citation][nom]TommySch[/nom]I dont see any relation between the two... We bomb them, which Im not saying was a bad thing. You need to actively use a cellphone. YOU buy one to your child, its not like a stranger gave it to him and forced him to use it.[/citation]
Both are man made thus not natural. Both emit radiation one may just kill slower.

Natural selection is the process of traits giving one group a more likely chance to successively reproduce. In this case no one is immune. Now a trait cant be to poor to own a cell phone, know enough to not use them, or Amish. These are social and religious classifications only.

 

[cj_online]

My parents bought me a cellphone when I was 16.. I never misused it... completely opposite of what the norm is.. of kids my age, texting like crazy or chatting on the phone for hours.. I never did that..

and I didn't pay for it.. so it all depends on ur upbringing.. u don't have to necessarily let cellphone privileges teach ur discipline.

 

[lo_vaquero]

[citation][nom]rollerdisco[/nom]BUT we also do not have a land line, because that is dumb. [/citation] I just don't get this POV.

Why is a land line dumb? Because it is not portable? No other features beyond calls?

Here is food for thought:
- What is typically the first service to go down when natural disaster hits? Cell phones.
- Which service tends to be the most stable and still operational, even through power outages? Land line phones.
- Which system has it's own indepentent power system? Land lines

Cell phones ARE useful and they DO have thier uses, but it find it dumb that people drop land lines for them.

 

[t2couger]

I used to work for T-mobile and i can honestly say i have seen and heard of some nightmarish stories with kids and cellphones. I am not a parent but if i was in the situation to give a child a cellphone i think the fierfly glowPhone phone is a great idea. as far as age if they had that phone i would be ok with 8 or so. i cant remember the number of times i made collect call home from pay phone to check in with mom when i was young.

 

[lo_vaquero]

[citation][nom]killerclick[/nom]Lol @ kids thanking their parents for screwing up their social life. My mom wouldn't let me stay out past 10 p.m. and now she's ill and I stuck her in the cheapest most run down nursing home I could find. That'll also happen to parents who don't buy cellphones for their kids.[/citation] I seriously doubt it.

Given this is true, I feel extremely sorry for your mother. She at least tried to do something with you. Instead she is stuck with an ingrate, self-centered drain on humanity for a child.

This, lady's and gentlemen, is an example of a person too stuck on themselves to see the sun rise and set each day.

 

[a4mula]

Four Kids, Zero Cell Phones.

My oldest is 14, I just now let her have an email address. The rise of the cell phone is one of the travesties of the modern day. You look around and everyone has their head buried in their iphone or blackberry. What the hell is so important that you need to be texting at 60 mph? Has it increased our social connectivity? Has any of our new technologies from cell phones to facebook to twitter done that? No, I believe not. We pass information quicker, but we stray further away from meaningful interaction.

 

[lo_vaquero]

[citation][nom]liquidchild[/nom]what is with all this "as soon as they can afford one" talk? What parent makes a child work a dead end job just to get some petty item they want? Kids are suppose to do 2 things before 18... go to school and play sports/band/dance, etc... I did not work a day in my life before I was 22, and it got a me a full ride to a private school and a degree. What has cooking burgers at 15 ever done for a kid, other then set his standards low? Before you guys whine that it teaching "work ethic", wrap you mind around this...mentally handicapped people can flip burgers, and we are lagging far behind other countries in math and science. Give the kid what they want but take it away if they bring you a C.[/citation] How sad. Missing the forest for the trees. Wrap you mind mind around this:

Expecting kids to work to earn their own stuff (within reason) teach more than work ethic. It teachs responsibility, helps learn practical skills (like taking care one one's self) and makes one a productive person. And it definately limits selfish attitudes similar to the one you just presented.

I pity you. Your attitude will some day get the best of you and you'll not like the results too much.

 

[caamsa]

When should a child have a cell phone?.....when their parent feels that they are responsible enough to have one.

Word!

 

[kcaclark]

I have 2 kids ages 13 and 9, my 13 year old gets to take it where ever he goes, and we make sure it is with him and charged at all times. If he does not call in or we can't reach him he gets grounded, it is a parents best way to control your kids activities. You can suscribe to family locator and find out exactly where they are. I am 41 and when I was 13 my parents had no clue where I was or what I was up to, I could tell them I was at a friends house that did not have phone. I think a cell phone for your kid is better for the parent than child, they don't even realize that they get to put a wireless leash on. If they knew this they wouldn't want a phone. Also do random text message checks, it is your phone that you let them use, so the right of privacy does not exist. Until they pay there way, they will have to abide by the house rules.

 

[dbowlin17]

15 for the younger son, 18 for the older. though both used my phone if they were going somewhere for some time.

 

[a-nano-moose]

My 3 year old and my 5 year old both have cell phones.
Off course the phones haven't actually worked in over 6 years.

 

[getritch]

[citation][nom]jAckyra[/nom]No kids yet, but if/when I do, I will fully support their having a cell phone as early as 'possible'. And by 'possible' I mean, whenever they can pay for it themselves.[/citation]

Couldn't have said it better myself. logged in just to 1 up this.

 

[bildo123]

What the hell is so important that you need to be texting at 60 mph?

Quote of the Decade.