A great article from the New York Times on how texting from cellphones has changed how kids communicate and can keep parents in the dark, even when they're with their parents... Worth the full read.
When Russell Hampton looked into his rearview mirror he saw his daughter sending a text message on her cellphone. “Katie, you shouldn’t be texting all the time,” Mr. Hampton recalled telling her. “Your friends are there. It’s rude.” Katie rolled her eyes again.
“But, Dad, we’re texting each other,” she replied with a harrumph. “I don’t want you to hear what I’m saying.”
Chastened, Mr. Hampton turned his attention back to the freeway. It’s a common scene these days, one playing out in cars, kitchens and bedrooms across the country.
Children increasingly rely on personal technological devices like cellphones to define themselves and create social circles apart from their families, changing the way they communicate with their parents.
But as with any cultural shift involving parents and children — the birth of rock ’n’ roll or the sexual revolution of the 1960s, for example — various gulfs emerge. Baby boomers who warned decades ago that their out-of-touch parents couldn’t be trusted now sometimes find themselves raising children who — thanks to the Internet and the cellphone — consider Mom and Dad to be clueless, too.
Cellphones, instant messaging, e-mail and the like have encouraged younger users to create their own inventive, quirky and very private written language. That has given them the opportunity to essentially hide in plain sight. They are more connected than ever, but also far more independent.
Text messaging, in particular, has perhaps become this generation’s version of pig Latin. For dumbfounded parents, AT&T now offers a tutorial that decodes acronyms meant to keep parents at bay.
Source: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09cell.html?ex=1205726400&en=f07391b8da3489e7&ei=5070&emc=eta1
I went ahead and clicked on the link and read this entire article. I was quite astonished to find parents commenting about how they cannot control their childrens' usages of cell phones, even when in the parents' presences. Like the guy who said his daughter was secretly texting under a blanket even after he told her no cell phones during family TV time. Oh, yeah, then she just leaves the room and refuses to participate when she doesn't get her way?!? My answer to this reprehensible behavior from a child: "Fine, give me your cell phone until you can learn to respect my requests as your adult parent and the person who pays that cell phone bill. And, by the way, you MUST sit here and pretend to enjoy yourself or you will not get to use the regular phone, either. If that's not enough, then I can certainly come up with additional ways for you to see things my way. I'm old and patient and have nothing better to do with my time until you turn 18 and move out of my house."
Now, I know a lot of you are clicking your teeth and hissing at me about how this type of action would crush my child's psyche, but I'm HUGE on allowing my children to express themselves and become individuals while still respecting me and other adults. To me, there's a time and place. Like I always tell my two sons, people are more important than things. Simple answer to kids who misuse the cell phone: shut that phone off until junior can learn some respect and manners.
Posted by: Tisha | April 06, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Thanks for your comment Tisha! Like most areas of parenting, it seem that a lot of issues might be avoided ahead of time if parents make the effort to set clear expectations and consequences with their kids when it comes to how cell phones are to be used.
Posted by: Jim | April 07, 2008 at 02:58 PM