Inspired by Post #10 here;

[hedgehog]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014436134#post10


If you believe your child absolutely needs a cell phone to stay in touch with you, why wouldn't you get the kid a Jitterbug?




I may be the last of the dinosaurs; my kids got cell phones when they went to college, not before.

[MineralMan]

1. Basic cell phones are available. Kids hate them.

Parents should consider these carefully. If the reason for a cell phone is so the child can communicate with the parent, then a basic phone is all that's needed. Prepaid basic cell phones are really cheap.

[talkingmime]

2. I had them disable texting on our plan and our kids do fine without it.

They even get frustrated with kids who treat their phones like a vital organ. But the reason I turned it off was because we were getting charged 15 or 20 cents for each incoming message (forget which amount) even if the kids never even read the messages!

And Twitter and Facebook has just made the pre-occupation worse. My wife works with someone who will update her Facebook page with things like "I'm sitting in the McDonald's drive-through" (except in twit-speak, of course). Who the hell cares about stupid stuff like that?

All of our phones look very much like the Jitterbug and we've got a really good family plan. I know people with plans for their "smart" phones that brag about monthly costs being low when they're paying more than I am for five phones!