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Teens and Cell Phones

Stellify

StarChild
A few mornings ago, the radio hosts talked about this particular incident (it's a fairly short article):

Teen charged in attack on parents | delawareonline | The News Journal

Basically, a father took away his teenage daughter's cellphone and she ended up threatening her parents with two kitchen knives, then violently attacking the door of their bedroom when they hid inside and locked it. It started because the father heard her on the phone and knew she had no minutes left. He also suspected her of stealing money from her mother's purse to buy more minutes on a prepaid card...So he took the phone away.

:eek: I'm honestly not even sure what to think about this... Any opinions or insights from RFers? Heard of anything else like this happening? :confused: :shrug:

Edit: And look at all the things she was charged with! :areyoucra


Does anyone think there is any kind of solution to this?
Where is this kind of phone/text communication obsession leading (ie: my Wall-E example in post # 7)? And what's the next step?
 
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stacey bo bacey

oh no you di'int
WHOA. That girl has some issues. Maybe they should get her some help because that is way outside the acceptable range of teenage rebellion.
 

Stellify

StarChild
I know! If I had ever done anything even remotely close to that, I would have gotten a serious a** whooping!

I just hope it isn't a sign of things to come :areyoucra
 

stacey bo bacey

oh no you di'int
Yea, for real. Keep that crap in check before she starts serial killing because she can't get a sale on some shoes she wants! :cover:
 

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
Children live and breathe on their cellphones. Their generation does not interact in person as much as we did and only makes the situations more stressful. Most kids text message now.

Question? How many kids do you know will leave a voice message?

If you cannot afford an unlimited plan or your child is not responsible, it would have been better to never have given them a phone in the first place.
 

stacey bo bacey

oh no you di'int
Children live and breathe on their cellphones. Their generation does not interact in person as much as we did and only makes the situations more stressful. Most kids text message now.

Question? How many kids do you know will leave a voice message?

If you cannot afford an unlimited plan or your child is not responsible, it would have been better to never have given them a phone in the first place.

Yea. Then again, I don't know if they knew she was THIS psycho.

Or maybe they couldn't afford an unlimited plan (like you suggested) and they got whatever they could afford to appease their PSYCHO daughter! AHH!!
 

Stellify

StarChild
Children live and breathe on their cellphones. Their generation does not interact in person as much as we did and only makes the situations more stressful. Most kids text message now.

Question? How many kids do you know will leave a voice message?

If you cannot afford an unlimited plan or your child is not responsible, it would have been better to never have given them a phone in the first place.

Yeah..but geez. I mean, I'm of a fairly young generation, but I've never been that obsessed with talking on the phone! I agree that phones (texts especially) get in the way of face-to-face socialization....I think it's more of a problem than people realize...(anyone ever see Wall-E? The way two people sitting next to each other still talk via the computer screen? That's what it reminds me of).

Heh..yeah, I don't leave voice messages most of the time..But that's because I'm shy and think I sound stupid when I leave them. I would actually prefer talking in person than over the phone. Although texting is different.

I'm sure her parent's didn't think she would steal and go crazy on them when they gave her the phone :areyoucra
And, I've known some parents who could afford an unlimited plan, but chose against it because they didn't want their child on the phone that much. Kind of a way to encourage them to go hang out in person, I suppose :)
 

stacey bo bacey

oh no you di'int
I don't leave voicemails because I never check mine, so I assume no one else does either.

Not related at all, just a comment. :D :D :D :bounce
 

Stellify

StarChild
Mommy and daddy shouldn't have allowed them to be spoiled by it in the first place.

Yeah...I agree. Although I still think her reaction was extreme, no matter how spoiled she was... Murderous rage? Really? :cover:
Although she probably has other problems besides a phone obsession.

Does anyone think there is any kind of solution to this?
Where is this kind of phone/text communication obsession leading (ie: my Wall-E example from earlier)? And what's the next step?
 

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
I believe the child was raised with no boundaries until the families financial situation dictated that they enforce some limits. The child faced with parental control for the first time completely lost it. Perhaps she really felt she just "HAD TO" talk to someone and it just could not wait.

As far as the unlimited plans go. Just because my daughter has an unlimited plan does not mean I cannot take her phone from her or limit her usage
 

Stellify

StarChild
I believe the child was raised with no boundaries until the families financial situation dictated that they enforce some limits. The child faced with parental control for the first time completely lost it. Perhaps she really felt she just "HAD TO" talk to someone and it just could not wait.

As far as the unlimited plans go. Just because my daughter has an unlimited plan does not mean I cannot take her phone from her or limit her usage

That's true. If your child is trustworthy enough, you can tell them not to go over X amount of minutes. Or tell them not to use their phone for the rest of the day, etc..
But (and this may be just me), it sounded to me as though the girl's plan would not allow her to make any more calls once she was out of minutes (as opposed to allowing the calls and charging the family for overages).
If that is in fact the case, I agree with the parent's choice to an extent. It's a more sure-fire way of keeping track of her usage...Give her a certain amount of minutes, let her use them as she sees fit, but when she's out, she's out for the month. Kind of like having a monthly allowance when you're a kid. If you waste it all in the first two days, that's your choice. And your consequences.
If she was the type to throw hissy fits (which she obviously is), then having a semi-irrevocable cut-off like that would be a good way to keep the arguments at a minimum, I imagine....as opposed to having unlimited minutes and having to watch her every move so she doesn't use her phone more than she's supposed to :sarcastic Because if she did sneak away or use it at school or in the middle of the night, it's a sunk cost. There's not really anything you can do about it but scold her. :shrug:
 

cardero

Citizen Mod
It's not the phone's fault.

Wait let's not judge this until we know which phone service and plan she had. :)
comicaze247 writes: The kid's just psycho and needs help.

It reminds me of the time my high school friend came over and brought his 14-year old daughter who ended up just texting her friends for most of the visit (even at the dinner table). She kept telling us how old she was for her age but her juvenile actions suggested that she was appropriately immature for her generation.

The only cell phone a teenager should have is one that dials and accepts only one number; another adult family member's phone. Any parent that adds on any other features is just wasting money and asking for trouble.
 

+Xausted

Well-Known Member
My 11 year old has a mobile phone and she has to earn her credit by doing jobs around the house. At all times she must keep £2 of credit on her phone for emergencies. She sometimes needs reminding to do the jobs however it works out pretty well for us and her as she knows the value of money. Too many kids today are spoilt.
 

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
The only cell phone a teenager should have is one that dials and accepts only one number; another adult family member's phone. Any parent that adds on any other features is just wasting money and asking for trouble.

Exactly. They're tools, not toys.
 

Buttercup

Veteran Member
I'm not sure this case has so much to do with bad parenting as it does a kid who needs psychological help. Often mental illness makes it's debut in the teen years...this girl has serious issues.

But, why the hell was she charged with "terroristic threatening"?
 

Smoke

Done here.
My first reaction was to think I could defend myself against a teenager brandishing kitchen knives, but then, I suppose one would be reluctant to take out one's own daughter.

The girl clearly has some pretty serious issues, and there's no way to be sure that her upbringing is responsible. I've known some completely out-of-control young people who had perfectly reasonable and rational siblings, so it seems that there's often more to it than just the fact they were brought up too permissively.
 
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