Inspired by Post #10 here;

[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!