I was born before the cell phone, before the personal computer, oh, heck, before remote control. So at my house we have a killer joke - whenever someone begs for a new electronic gizmo, I respond, “Hey, what do you kids need a (cell phone/ iPod/laptop) for? You all have clock radios!” Thankyouverymuch.
In truth, I like technology in my life, like my laptop, high-speed Internet, and my cute little Kyocera flip phone with lots of minutes. But technology can serve you or eat you up, depending on how you decide to use it. (True confession: I've actually answered my cell phone in church. Twice.) Yet even as we adults struggle with limits, we must also help our kids discern boundaries.
But the pressure's on as marketers lower their limits. As of December 2004, 40 percent of 12- to 14-year-olds, and 14 percent of 10- to 11-year-olds, had cell phones, said USA Today (“Cell Phone Marketers Calling All Preteens,” Sept. 9, 2005). Disney and Mattel are licensing brands targeted to preteens, while startup company Firefly sells a kid-targeted phone for about $100 featuring no keypad, just five buttons that access up to 20 preprogrammed phone numbers.
Many parents agree cell phones help busy families track domestic logistics and provide a sense of safety when kids - especially newly minted drivers - are away from home. On the, ahem, flip side, their concerns include costs, ability to monitor who's calling whom, and, ironically, safety issues.
One father of four discovered a surprise $40 charge on his phone bill and traced it to a daughter's cell phone calls to a new Canadian friend from summer camp. Steep, eh?
Sleepless in Roseville couldn't be sure which friends or acquaintances were calling her daughter as late as midnight, even on school nights. Finally, Mom put the issue to bed by insisting the high school sophomore recharge her phone in the kitchen, right next to Mom's and Dad's, overnight.
And a Minneapolis cancer survivor vigilant about environmental carcinogens insists her 12-year-old use an earpiece to minimize potentially harmful long-term exposure to low-frequency radio waves emitted by cell phones, linked by a few studies to damaged brain cells and cancer in lab animals.
Despite the fact that her son and daughter, 13 and 15, ask “incessantly” for cell phones, a St. Louis Park mom is holding her ground: They're too expensive, they could get stolen, and she doesn't think her kids are old enough - until they start to drive.
But experts warn that both crash and research evidence indicates that teen drivers, particularly those using cell phones, pose significant risks to their own and others' safety. Kathy Swanson, director of the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety, says, “[Teens] may be more skilled than some adults at using their cell phones, but not in using them when they are behind the wheel.”
“In Minnesota in 2004, 15- to 19-year-olds made up 7.4 percent of licensed drivers, and 14 percent of drivers in fatal crashes,” explained Swanson. Furthermore, recent studies find that teen drivers distracted by cell phone use have slower reaction times and ignore obstacles at the same rates as elderly drivers. Having a phone is fine, she says, but use it only when you've pulled over or parked the car.
Now, Minnesota is one of 11 states - and counting - to ban novice drivers from cell phone use at the wheel. Minnesota's statute (effective Jan. 1, 2006) reads in part: “A provisional license holder” - in other words, most 16- and 17-year-old drivers - “may not operate a vehicle while communicating over or otherwise operating a cellular or wireless telephone, whether hand-held or hands-free when the vehicle is moving.”
Sorry, kids, the clock radios will have to suffice for a few more years. And I promise not just to set limits, but to set an example; I'll hang up and drive - and I guess I should turn off my phone in church, too.
