Should I allow my child to text?
October 29th, 2009 / 1 Comment
A parent asked me, “Should I allow my 13-year-old to use her cellphone for texting, or should I block that feature?”
To answer that question, I went to my expert advisor, my 14-year-old daughter.
“Do you think kids your age should be allowed to text?”
What do you think is her answer?
She said, “There is no need for us to text. Kids always try to text in class when they are not suppose to.”
When I was substituting at a middle school, I saw a student texting on her phone behind her book (kids think adults are really stupid or totally blind…). Was it an emergency or an urgent situation that she had to text someone? If it was, she wouldn’t have put it away so quickly when I walked toward her.
Texting is very convenient, that is for sure. If you know my philosophy on the use of technology, you know that I am all for allowing kids to use the computer and to learn the latest gadgets.
However, for young children and teens, texting is usually done for no good reason and at school where it is not allowed. If they shouldn’t be texting at school, and after school, they should be at home where they can IM (Instant Message), and if they are out, they can talk on the phone, so when is it that they need to text?
I say, save the extra 10 bucks a month and block texting on your child’s phone.
What is your take on whether you should allow texting on your child’s phone?
Comments
Answer to this is more common sense than anything else.
I think kids should be provoked to think, whether sending that text is really necessary. what purpose does it serve?
if it just serves the purpose of occupying a young mind to chatter in continous communication [which may not be necessary/ sensible] then such texting should be stopped. I strongly believe it would numb brain’s thinking abilities.
Leave A Comment