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Alrighty, a debate!
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Alrighty, a debate!
Alrighty, a debate! Thank you Admins! This is a debate on the usage of cellphones.
Cell phones are expensive and a large responsibility, and I don’t believe that young children should own them. First (I’ve mentioned this a couple times) children under the age of 13 (well, maybe 12) don’t go places without an adult or guardian or someone to supervise them. The supervisor is responsible for the child, and so having a cell phone is frivolous at that age, because it is simply to fit in, because they won’t need a cell phone for emergencies if someone is watching over them! Second, when you start using a cell phone at a young age, you lose social skills. I’ve known a couple cases where the child (or now older teen) is awful at talking on the phone, or keeping up a conversation because of texting. Even if you are old enough to own a cell phone, texting is a lame excuse for “talking” to someone. It also ruins your spelling, because most kids use “txt talk” ( as we’ve seen even here, on the CB.) (Oh and I’m not saying this for any of you CBers. This is just in general. You all might be a totally different case, it’s just this is what I’ve seen around here.) It drives me INSANE when I text an entire long thing and only get an “oh” or “haha” as a reply. It not only is annoying, it kind of hurts, because it shows that I’m trying hard to keep in touch and talk to these people (in the way that they like= texting) and it seems like they don’t even care! Yes, I have a phone, but my parents didn't want me to get one until I was driving. But they decided I needed one because I've been doing alot without them. Basically, I have mine for safety reasons, but I do like having it, because EVERYONE has one in today's world. Ugh.
I have more to say but I must go to bed now. So, what are your opinions? I’m not mad at all if you are younger and have a phone, in fact, I don’t really care. :) It’s just, how do you behave with your phone? What do you use it for? Do you think, even though you have one, that it’s pointless, or annoying at times? Do you find the way others use their phones is terrible? (for example: sending bad messages/pictures, spreading rumors, the way they text like I mentioned above, etc). Debate!
Robyn~D~
submitted by R~D~, age 14, WA
(January 19, 2011 - 12:56 am)
(January 19, 2011 - 12:56 am)
Haha, you're right. This seems to be more of a discussion than a debate. Ah well. :)
~Leaf
(January 22, 2011 - 9:31 am)
Your welcome, Leaf! Great to hear from you! I'm glad we share the same opinion. :)
(January 22, 2011 - 1:06 am)
Well, I'm 15, and I have a cell phone but don't use it much. Text is not enabled, so I don't text as much as I might otherwise, but even if I did I would keep the general habit I do on Facebook: Capitals, sentences, punctuation. Of course there are a few exceptions, but I think I am well-grounded enough in spelling and grammar to make them. My English teacher says I do a very good job copy-editing my work.
I have to agree with R~D, it is troubling to say the least when you have just finished telling your friend a long story on chat and all thay have to say is, "oh" or "lol". And yes, I hate it when you go to someone's house and they are preoccupied texing someone else and won't even give you their full attention. I think we should be careful not to let texting give rise to rude habits.
(January 22, 2011 - 2:07 am)
@R~D~: I don't have a phone. I just text on my ipod when I'm writing emails and stuff. :-)
@Brynne: Don't worry, I don't text while people are in a room. Considering I don't have a cell phone and only two of my friends have cell phones. And I don't have their numbers. :-P
(January 22, 2011 - 3:04 pm)
What's the difference between a discussion and a debate?
(January 23, 2011 - 8:42 am)
I have had a cell phone since I started middle school because my sister and my brother get out of school after I do. I come home to an empty house. So technically, my cell phone is for emergecies (and random going over someone's houses). I do use it to text my friends, though. *blushes*
@ANALESIA@
(January 23, 2011 - 12:01 pm)
@Elizabeth M: A debate is like a civilized argument. And a discussion is, well, a discussion! :-)
(January 23, 2011 - 5:29 pm)
@Olive: Oh, gotcha. Whoopsies ;)
@Analesia: I use mine to text my friends, too. It's okay. =) Basically, if my cell phone weren't necessary for emergencies and, fine, I'll admit, fitting in, I wouldn't want one. :D
(January 23, 2011 - 11:05 pm)
Sorry, if I don't always use the right punctuation! I just don't always know where the apostrophes should go. That isn't txt talk.
(January 25, 2011 - 10:42 am)
Grr. I hate it when people use "txt talk". It drives me mad! I'm a grammer freak, so most of my things are nice and grammatically correct, i.e. spelling, capitiiztion, puncuation. I have a phone, you could say, but my brother says that I don't 'have' it, I 'lose' it, even though at this moment I'm looking across the couch and can see it sitting on the coffee table, it's always out of batteries. And honestly, I had a phone in 3rd grade, though it got lost under the couch for all of fourth and fifth grade. Now I'm in sixth grade and that habit of losing is still not broken. I lose everything I could get my hands on, except my books, my books are all lying neatly in a small pattern in my fort. But not about bad habits, let's get back on the topic, shall we? Where was I, oh yeah, losing phones. The reason that I've lost my phones so much is because I DON'T USE IT!! There is no reason for me to use it, because my brother is (I can't believe I'm typing this) responsible and my parents trust him, so if I were to be in Target or Vons, and we decided to split up me and my brother would be together, therefore having a "responsible" adult/teenager watching over you. But what I have come to the conclusion is that what if kids asked their parents/gaurdians if they could have a phone because it's what they believe to be 'cool'. Maybe they want to have that glimmer of responsibility thrust upon them with that small piece of technology, that if their parents want to talk with them, they can just type in a message, they could be thought of as an adult, etc. But they're still a kid, and who else would have a phone that they could communicate with? I lost my first phone because the only people I would talk with was my aunts/uncles, parents, and grandparents. Honestly, you're in THRID grade, you wouldn't talk with much people as a little seven year old. I only got a phone then because my older brother got a new one, so I got the hand-me-down. I'll rant more about it later, but now I have to do homework.
(January 25, 2011 - 7:50 pm)
If I had ever wanted a phone, that would be the reason why... to be 'cool'. I just don't think it's right that kids get judged because they don't have what everyone else has. If someone under the age of 11 gets a phone, it can't be for safety. It's either (Like in your case, ZB), a hand-me-down, and not really cared for, or to 'fit in'. I understand that a child wants to fit in, because I feel that way sometimes, but why should a TEN year old need to have a PHONE to fit in? They should have certain shoes, or toys or stuffed animals like Webkinz or something to fit in, not an expensive electronic devicethat our parents didn't even own until they were adults. When I see really young kids walking around with phones (I mean, texting on it, showing it off, or whatever), I'm sorry, but the first thing I think is "snob". or "rich parents". :) I'm not sterotyping any of you because I <3 y'all, I'm just saying.
(January 26, 2011 - 5:59 pm)
Umm no offense R~D~ but I can think of plenty of reasons where I was alone or with people my parents didn't know and I would always borrow one of their cell phones. That was when I was probably 9 or 10, and I did use a cell phone for safety. I got my first cell when I was almost 11 and that was also because of safety. Just because I was younger doesn't mean that I wasn't alone sometimes or maybe needed to keep in touch. Don't worry I'm not saying any of this to offend anybody just to prove my point because that's what kind of person I am. :)
~Phillis~
(February 6, 2011 - 8:52 am)
That's understandable, and I'm not offended at all. :P Honestly - not trying to be mean here- a nine or ten year old shouldn't be put in a situation like that. That's not parenting I'm used to. Why do 9-10 year olds still need babysitters? Because they're too young to be alone! I don't know why your parents would leave you completely by yourself with no one you know at that age... But, I could probably think of a time when I was older than 11 and needed to borrow someone else's cellphone, but not all the time! I didn't really need one, just on the rare occasion my mom was late to pick me up from basketball practice, or my grandma forgot to pick up my sister and I from the airport (well, she didn't really forget, she just forgot where....) but that's about it. I didn't NEED my parents to pay a monthly fee for something I would only use to "be cool". [[This is a debate now!]]
(February 9, 2011 - 4:27 pm)
@ R~D~ I was never completely alone but my parents are really careful, and even if I was just at a party at a friends house I would borrow one of their phones. I'm also really into sports so a lot of times I would have to borrow a cell phone when I was at practice, which would be pretty much every night. (Yes, I did practice every night between swimming, 2 basketball leagues, soccer, and karate :) I don't know about you but in situations when I wasn't with my parents for only an hour or two they still wanted me to have a cell. :) This is getting fun now.
(February 21, 2011 - 4:17 pm)
ROFTLL, your sooooooo funny Robyn!!
You only created this becuase you want a phone and your jealous of little kids that have phone!!!
See, I can read your mind... LOL!!
I saw this kid at camp (well not camp Super Kids) with an iPhone and she WAS LIKE ONLY 7 beacuse she was my sister's friend!
I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo jealous!
And Yes, I have a phone. It is REALLY crappy because it doen't even have a keyboard. I mainly use it to text anyway!!!!!!!!!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.... mom!
But I am in the process of getting a Sprint phone with a keyboard.
Plus, you're right in a sense... but kids under 11 SHOUULD NOT HAVE PHONES!!
Well thats all I have to say...
(January 28, 2011 - 2:56 pm)