Today a good friend came in and we chatted for a while, he more than me. Asked about his family. Said they were fine, healthy. Then he said he had a problem with his youngest daughter. I'll call her Missy.
Went on to explain, Missy, liked to text. I said, so what. Then he pulled out his phone bill. It's the current months charges. My friend and his wife both had about three hundred minutes of text usage. Missy had nineteen thousand minutes. That's 19,000 minutes.
Do the math. She's twelve years old.
I understand she takes a shower on occasion.
He asked what he should do. They've tried everything. I said, first throw the phone in the trash. Second, buy her a few books and then a rifle.
It wouldn't work. She's an addict.
Stephen
In a month? YOU do the math. And then text the answer to Einstein or Hawking.
ReplyDeleteI can only guess that the charge is a minute or multiple minutes per text. Probably costs a couple of minutes to text "how u?"
Intervention.
"They've tried everything" Did they try cutting off her thumbs? :-P
Their butts were saved by having an unlimited plan. I agree on the thumbs. Thanks, North.
DeleteIn a hypothetically standard 30 day month, there are only 43200 minutes. Give that girl the Noble Prize in theoretical physics for being the first to fold time and space. Then give her a pair of Chinese handcuffs after putting her phone on a blender. Then dope slap the parents for giving a 12 year old a phone.
ReplyDeleteMy mistake, Shepherd. It was 19,000 minutes. Still, we has she time to breath. I shall edit my mistake. Fold time - I like that...Thanks, my friend.
DeleteIf that is a monthly bill it is a mistake. Like Shepherd K pointed out...there is not that many minutes in a month. I assume she sleeps, eats and goes to school.
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong with these parents...take the phone away. She can't text if she doesn't have a phone. My children are grown but I guarantee they would not have had a cell phone at 12 years of age. BS on the addiction part. I highly doubt the child will die, mug or steal from anyone to have a phone.
Thanks for the comment, Mamma Bear.
DeleteTexting is one of the dumbest crazes in my ever so humble opinion. If it had been invented before the talking phone it would be outdated like the telegraph.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree Duke...I had the texting turned off on all 3 of our phones. Can't receive them and can't send them.
DeleteVery true, Bubba. Thanks.
DeleteThere's no cell phone service where I live. We are in the shadow of a mountain. Nice. I do have a cheap prepaid cell phone for travel, but never text. I tell people not to text as I won't answer any. They've learned.
ReplyDeleteAs for what to do with a daughter . . . I've raised 3 of them to adulthood. Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and say no. Never mind what all their friends are doing.
Like you, my friend, I've raised a nice son. He's thirty-three now and I'm darn proud of him...he never owned a cell phone until he was in college. I never gave a flip what other parents thought, we did our way and it worked. Thanks.
DeleteIn contrast my son had a cell phone at I think 9. It was for when something went wrong and he needed to make a call. It stayed in his backpack on -silent- during school. Other students were getting into trouble using their phones, mine knew the rules.
ReplyDeleteAs a HS student he texts, but not a great deal. About half the texts are informational and are between him and me/wife.
The philosophy my wife and I adhere to: Don't raise a child. Raise an adult. Treat your kid as the person you want them to be. Talk _to_ them, not down to them. We have a good kid that is admired by his peers and adults. He has his moments, but all in all he is a person people want to know, a person people can trust.
Very sound advice, North. Thanks.
DeleteMy 14 year old does not have a cell phone. I told him I would buy him one when the sheep trampled him and he couldn't get up. If he wants one, he pays for it. He earned some money at another farm, ended up spending it on books and swords instead of a cell.
ReplyDeleteThey need to take the phone away from her. Or get a plan that doesn't allow texting.
Thanks, Lovely Phelan, I very much agree.
DeleteI got my son a cell some years ago and after a while the extra charges began adding up each month so it went the way of the dodo. After waiting a few years I got him another one when he turned 16 and so far the only additional charges have been stuff that he cleared with me first.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my brother however my twin nieces are just as bad as the girl in your story. After spending some time with them occasionally I can see it too.
It's a shame about your nieces..makes one wonder how they'd do if the towers went down. Thanks, my friend.
DeleteSending smoke signals would be cheaper. How did we all survive our childhoods with out a cell phone? If we needed to talk to friends, we used a phone that was in the house, or walked to our friends house to talk to them. What ever happened to writing letters? It's more private, takes a few days to get there. AAAHHH, the good old days.
ReplyDeleteWonder what the world will do, when the grid goes down.
Shame the phone booths went the way of party lines...grid down indeed. Thanks, my good friend.
DeleteAs others have said, above, discontinue the phone. They can't use it if it's been turned off. Then tell her "NO".
ReplyDeleteSeems as if no is a hard word for parents in this day and age. Thanks, my friend.
DeleteI am a huge texter, but good grief, not that much. I am not sure the dilemma though. She is a child, so just take the phone.
ReplyDeleteSeems simple enough, doesn't it. Thanks, my nice friend.
DeleteI just don't get what is so important that you have to text all the time. I do understand having a phone for emergencies or getting a hold of your parents when you have a problem. Every where I turn, when I go into town you see a person on a cell phone or texting. I say our kids need to get a life. Get off their butts and get outside and do something like we did in the old days. Now what would these kids do if cell phone towers no longer worked? They would be lost because they can't socialize in person. I say take the phone away. If the young lady wants a cell phone, she needs to pay for it, and work for it.
ReplyDeleteThat get off their butts is the key, Sandy. When I get behind a vehicle on the road and it's traveling ten miles below the speed limit...it's a kid texting. Ticks me off. Thanks, Sweet Sandy.
DeleteI tell my 13 year old she can have a phone with whatever bells & whistles she wants...when she can afford it. I'm not buying her a phone. Period.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Sweet Lady. Thank you very much...
DeleteYes, it can be taken away, but it's probably better to teach a lesson on restraint and make it a learning experience. I have two nieces, one is older and one is 11. With that much texting, some (if not a lot) is happening while the parents are there. When we are together at family functions and the girls' phones come out for a text, they get chastised greatly. They have learned there is an appropriate time for talking to friends and also a time to ignore the phone.
ReplyDeleteGood advice, my friend. Thank you.
DeleteTrue...thanks, mmasse.
ReplyDeleteParents are lazy these days. They don't take parenting seriously. They take the easy way out far too often which is what is wrong with children today.
ReplyDeleteVery true, Becky. Thanks, and it's nice to see you again...
DeleteThe standard comment, she can have a cell phone when she can pay for it. Same goes for a car when she's 16.
ReplyDeletePersonally can't relate, because I hate telephones.
Me too, thanks, Sweet Lady.
DeleteBack in the days before texting, but after the echoes of the dinosaurs had faded, I used instant messengers a lot. At one point, I found it easier to talk to a friend on ICQ who was in the same computer lab... to the amusement of both of us. (To be fair, the conversation was heavily link-laden and code-laden, as we were tackling a project together.)
ReplyDeleteOne day, I realized I had just spent half an hour on a conversation that would have taken 5 minutes if I'd just called. Certainly, it was much less obtrusive and I could get more done - but when I'm just playing on the computer because I'm also talking to someone, it's a waste of time.
Unlike money, or health, when time is gone, you can't get any more. So I closed down the instant messengers, and went outside to do things that needed doing. Since then, I call, I email, or I visit, and very rarely I send a short piece of information to a recipient in a noisy place via text - but conversations are pretty much right out.
I'll never get those hours back - but I'll go on and make more of what time I have left. I don't know how to explain the shortness of life to kids who've never buried anyone and think a year is forever, but I know that taking the cell phone away until they can learn self-restraint is a good start to teaching wisdom and judgment.
Very well said, dear lady. Life is so very short. Thank you for the nice and eloquent comment.
DeleteWe got toys and gadgets (including a car) when we got jobs and paid for them, including the expenses that went with (phone charges, auto insurance).
ReplyDeleteI was at lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant and there were three people in their 20's eating lunch together. All of them had their little iphones out texting and twitting and not one of them spoke to another through the meal, hardly even noticing their food. It was sad, really.
Same with my family, Brigid. Work, save, then spend. Sad indeed. Thanks, Pretty Lady.
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