Would George Michael produce a new song, "I want your sext" if he were still crankin out the tunes today?
Teenager Reina Hardesty sent over 14,258 texts in one month. Her dad's cell phone bill was 440 pages long. That is one text every two waking minutes. A ninth grader, Emilee Cox, sent an average of 30,000 texts per month! I think there may be some who are obsessed with a constant communication with their friends. There is a danger because technology can become addictive. Just asked the folks who spend their entire waking moments on the internet. People are addicted to facebook, twitter, I use both but I'm not constantly "online" using these services.
I witnessed a boy arguing with his dad in the cell phone store. He was trying to convince his dad to buy him the much more expensive phone because it had the handy slide out keyboard for texting. I even heard, "this is what all my friends have." Dad gave in because he wanted Jr. to be like his friends.
I know a girl who was sleeping with her phone on vibrate under her pillow and would text during the night. Her friend might text her at 2am and she would wake up and reply to the text. Then the next day wonder why she was so tired.
I have watched students sitting in a van full of students in their own world texting friends rather than conversing with the friends they were in the van with.
I'll admit that I would text more if I had a cell phone plan that included unlimited texting. But I don't think I would be addicted to texting.
Now we have the new texting danger. Students are "Sexting" and sending inappropriate messages and even nude pictures of themselves. One out of five (22%) teenage girls has posted or electronically sent nude or semi-nude photos of themselves. One third of teenage boys say that they have had racy images sent to them. Nearly a quarter of teenagers in the TRU study said that their electronic "sexting" makes them more aggressive in their real sexual behaviors.
I love the rent-a-car commercial where the mom admits to reading her daughter's texts on her phone and then quickly changes the subject.
Parents, when was the last time you sat down with your teen and explained what you expect from them when it comes to using their cell phone and why?
Youth leaders, what are you doing to help parents learn more about the potential damage and danger that exists in the seemingly harmless world of cell phones?
The stats and some of the examples in this post come from Group magazine's March/April issue on page 20.
2 comments:
Andy, please continue to open our parenting eyes. My own sons are adults now and I find myself wishing I'd known you years ago. I keep your tips handy for the days when we may have grandchildren and often share your thoughts, with attribution and recommendation to follow the site, to my coworkers with teenagers. Thank you for making this effort.
Donna
I work part time as a chauffeur for two teenage boys. (Yes...a chauffeur. Can you imagine being wealthy enough to hire a driver for your kids?! Crazy!) Anyway, I don't know how that family survived before cell phones and texting. It's the only way we communicate and arrange schedules.
The other day, a funny thing happened. There was a change in schedule, so the dad was texting the son to let him know. The son was still at school at the time. He texted back: "Daaaad! Don't text me while I'm in class!!!"
We all had a good chuckle over that!
But I know what you're saying. The kids these days seem to be growing up wayyy too fast. But I think the parents have become immune to it. If everybody's daughter is showing cleavage and wearing low rider jeans, then it seems natural.
When I go to pick up the kids at school, I'm amazed at the clothing, the vocabulary, and even the topics that come up. And they ALL have a cell phone either glued to their ear, or in hand texting a million miles per hour. I think this has all become so ubiquitous that parents just see it as normal.
So, unfortunately, I don't see any easy answers here. But you do bring up a good point, that parents really need to be looking a little closer at what is going on, and exercising a little more discipline.
Post a Comment