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Alrighty, a debate!
Chatterbox: Down to Earth
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)
Um, no, Vida... I have a cell phone. I created this because I don't think it's right for young kids to have phones, because it's for no reason, but I do have a phone. Although that'd be cool if you could read minds....
(January 28, 2011 - 5:08 pm)
Yeah, sorry about that Robyn! I only read a little because I was too lazy to read the whole thing, then I created that post. I'm sooo sorry. I read the whole post after I posted my rude comment... I know you have a phone. I am so sincerely sorry about my post!
Sorry!
*Vida*
(March 4, 2011 - 3:21 pm)
Oh Vida, it's not problem! :) That's what I had figured. I didn't make it very clear that I had a phone. Again, no problem. :D
(March 4, 2011 - 5:51 pm)
Oh, I get it, you thought I didn't have a phone because of my last post where I said, "If I had ever wanted a phone..." I didn't mean to say that.... :) But I meant, the only reason I wanted a phone was to be 'cool' and for emergencies. So I got one, for emergencies.
(January 28, 2011 - 5:25 pm)
Well I understand y'all with the wanting to be cool thing... Sometimes it is a temptation even if you know better. I have a Zune but sometimes I start wishing for an itouch anyway. And then I have to remind myself to be sensible. My Zune is perfectly functional. It's silly to think that just because everyone else has an ipod and not a Zune, that I have to be able to say the same thing.
(January 28, 2011 - 11:28 pm)
I got my phone sometime last year. I guess I use it a lot, since I text every day, but I hardly ever answer/call people (I hate talking on the phone and always have). I deleted my Facebook account at the beginning of the month, and I've realized that, if I didn't have my phone, I really wouldn't talk to my friends at all. Not because we don't hang out (because we do), but because whenever we plan to hang out, we plan via Facebook or text messages. Also, this was one of the hardest months of my life, but it's been such a relief to know that I can always text my best friend and best guy friend because they'll always be there for me (and are able to respond quickly, too). And, in a more important sense, my brother texts me to tell me whether he needs a ride to/from college or to/from work (he doesn't drive, so either my mom or his girlfriend drive him to work and school). But to answer your questions:
I behave...mature. If that's what you mean.
Communicating with friends. :P And talking with my brother.
Not at all. Except for when annoying guys from the high school try to flirt with me via text. Then I just shut off my phone and cease to be annoyed.
Some people, yes. But my friends don't do things like that, really. Spreading rumors maybe a tiny bit, but really, they don't do that sort of thing.
Oh. And trust me, I never use txt talk, unless I'm trying to stay under the 160 character limit. But even then, I don't say things like "how r u". I just replace "and" with "&", and stuff like that.
But really, I don't think kids really need phones until maybe eighth grade. Usually, in middle school age (at least where I live), kids still aren't really old enough to walk around town by themselves, so they're not gonna be hanging out with friends unless their parents drive them. And to me, that sort of means they don't need a phone. When they're independent enough to be able to get where they want to go by themselves, then they can have a phone and make plans by themselves. Unless of course, they don't live in the center of town like me and all my friends, and they'll need a parent to drive them until they get their license. I guess they could get a phone sooner. ...Ok, that all makes sense in my head, but it doesn't seem to when I say it.
Still, most of my friends didn't get a phone (or at least a texting plan) until ninth grade. That seems like a good age, I suppose.
(January 29, 2011 - 1:39 am)
Ha, I tried to italicize the word "need", and I ended up italicizing the rest of the post.
(January 31, 2011 - 9:23 pm)
:)
(January 31, 2011 - 10:31 pm)
I don't have a cell phone, but I still use text talk on email and iChat on my mac at school. I always make a point to use proper grammer on the Chatterbox, as well as on my assignments. Several of my friends have cell phones or ipods that they text on, and every day they use "IDK" in a conversation, or as an answer to a quiz question. I hate that!
(January 29, 2011 - 2:35 pm)
I have a cell phone, and I text on it basically every day, but not to have pointless conversations. (An example of a pointless conversation would be something like: hey. hey. sup? oh nm u? nm. cool. haha. :) lol.) I almost never use text talk when I'm texting, because it drives me insane (just one of my many pet peeves). I try to capitalize I's and use correct punctuation, and I can still text at the same speed as everyone else. *shrugs*
When I stay after school with a teacher, we have to ride the elementary school bus home. On the elementary bus, there are little kindergartners through third graders who are constantly texting. One 3rd grader has an iPhone 4 and an iPod Touch 4. And it's just not this girl. My sister, who's seven and in second grade, comes home every day and begs for an iPhone 4 or a Droid, and gets mad because I have a cell phone and an iPod. But not an iPhone. :) I think it's pointless to have an iPhone and an iPod Touch because they're the exact same thing, only you can call on the iPhone. And kindergartners have these! Both of these! And they text! All the time! ///ranting
I think, unless it's a special case, of course, kids younger than seventh grade should not be allowed to have a cell phone, or at least one that texts. From the beginning of 6th grade to the end of the summer of 7th grade, I had a 10-year-old Tracfone that couldn't text, didn't have games on it, and was most certainly not a touch-screen. It was for calling my mom and dad, and for emergency purposes. And I'm still alive. Since it was getting old and it didn't get very good signal as of last year, my mom bought me a nice messaging Verizon phone (which is also not a touch screen) that, in my opinion, is fairly awesome, even though it's not an iPhone 4.
Wow. I've just basically typed my life story on cell phones right here. (: Sorry for my ramblyness. :D
(January 29, 2011 - 9:44 pm)
*wheezes* I did a Red Cross babysitting all-in-one-day course (which was very fun) today, and there were people around 11-12-13-ish. And during the breaks, they'd take out their cellphones and start texting and calling people. While their friends were in the room. (well, they still talked to each other, but still) And their phones were really nice and expensive-looking. And they probably don't need them. And they obviously don't have them because they babysit. *is annoyed*
(February 12, 2011 - 8:23 pm)
:):) @Olive: I know, I feel that way too! My family went out to eat tonight and the family sitting next to us was a mom and dad and two boys, probably ten and five years old. The parents were talking and BOTH of the kids had iPhones and were hunched down, focusing on the phone. My family, was sitting there like "wow... that's a sad family." It was kind of sad, though.
(February 13, 2011 - 11:49 pm)
OHMYGOSH I AGREE.
One Friday sometime after Christmas I was working with a Daisy troop (they're so cute! I'm a troop helper) and up came the subject of Christmas presents (as it always will 2 weeks after). MORE THAN HALF of the girls raised thier hands and said they got a piece of technology- a cell phone, an iPod Touch, an iPhone, all kinds of things! Remember, these kids are about 5 YEARS OLD-- and I only have a crappy mp3 player that is stuck on shuffle.
(February 14, 2011 - 4:31 pm)
@Silverwing: It's ridiculous, isn't it? I wonder what the parents' motives are. I really do. By the way, are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before, well, maybe in Inkwell. I love your name! :)
(February 14, 2011 - 7:29 pm)
@ Silverwing 5 YEARS OLD!!!! HAVE THEIR PARENTS GONE CRAZY!!! NO 5 YEAR OLD NEEDS AN ELECTRONIC LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*calms down* I like your name too! It's... hmmm I can't think of a word...
(February 15, 2011 - 7:22 am)