Does my Teen Really Need a Cell Phone?
There was a time when a unique group of people had a cell phone. Now, cell phones are like hands almost everyone has one or two. Does this mean your teen has to have one?
The short answer is no. Your teen doesn’t have tohave a cell phone, but if you consider what the cell phone offers as a teaching tool you may reconsider why you would want to and get your teen a cell phone.
1. Safety. If your teen is stranded they can call you. Long gone are the days of carrying two pennies in the loafers to make a call, and besides quarters don’t fit in loafers very well. They can call when they will be late, that they have changed socializing locations. When they start to drive they can call for roadside service help, or if stranded a cab.
2. Financial Smarts. Before you purchase the phone for your teen they should know your expectations for having the phone (who will pay for the phone? Who will pay the bill? Will you split the bill?). Include them in the process of deciding how you select a carrier and, you get certain packages (family plan) and why you include or exclude certain options from your bill like. Can we say unlimited texting? Go over the bill each month and show them where a wise option decision has saved money (Again, please get unlimited texting).
3. Socializing. Not with you, but with their friends. There was a time when teens just stayed on the house phone and no one else in the home could receive or make a call. Now, instead of creating five phone lines in your home you can let them use their own phone.
4. Responsibility. What a great way to teach responsibility. “Here’s your phone and take care of it.” Explain the warranty for dropping it in the toilet or losing it. You can have them be accountable for their schedule since most phones have a datebook. They can set their own reminders for Mother’s or Father’s Day.
5. Rules. This is a great way to teach your teen about the rules of the household and see how they follow them. No texting at the table or in church. No answering the phone at the dinner table or when you are talking to them. No sexting (sending inappropriate pictures of yourself using a cell phone). No cell phone use in class, etc. This is the list of things that can get your phone taken away (a drop in grades, breaking the rules of phone use, etc) and these are the things that can get you an upgrade to a smart phone. You can have them sign the rules and you should post them somewhere you both can be reminded of them.
If your teen wants a cell phone because let’s face it it’s not a necessity, see if the above list makes you a little more comfortable. You can always give a dry run and if you happen to have an old cell phone around that you haven’t donated to a worthy cause many cell phone companies will charge less since it is a phone you brought with you. You should also discuss with your cell phone company ways you can review their calls, have GPS or restrict the cell phone use so that it only receives calls, like only your calls if there is a violation of the cell phone use rules, but you need them to have a phone in a particular situation. Otherwise, there is no reason to do this.
Whatever you decide, don’t set your teen up for failure by excluding them from the process of owning a phone. If you do exclude them then don’t wonder why they have no concern about the cost and be angry with them when they have a large bill. Getting a cell phone is a great teaching opportunity why not teach them using a tool they are obsessed with?
Related posts:
2 Responses Leave a comment
Great tips! This issue has been on my mind the last couple of weeks as we recently got our two teens their own phones. I especially like the idea of using the phone as a tool to teach financial literacy. We opted for prepaid phones to sidestep the whole ‘surprise bill’ issue.
I also do not agree with supplying unlimited minutes or even texts to a teen. That defeats the purpose of the whole exercise, it’s like saying: ‘don’t worry, this is not a limited resource and you don’t have to worry about the consequences of overusing it’.
The Tracfones we use are ideal – we buy 200 minutes each for the month and they can use their allowances to buy more minutes if they want. It is after all, like you said, not a necessity but another luxury.
I like your suggestion and this is an even better way to help teens budget, the prepaid cell. I have had so many parents annoyed and even angry at their teen who didn’t take this information into consideration before purchasing the phone. Happy to know you took it one step further.