Owning a Cell Phone is Rite of Passage for Teenagers

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/007687.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/007687.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Owning a cell is the new teen rite of passage for teens aged 11 to 17, writes TimesDispatch. "Some don't need it, but they just get it. It's like how everybody is wearing earrings," said Chelsy Becton, a Varina High School senior. "Everybody has a phone." It's the No. 1 electronic gadget that teens said they buy themselves and the one thing they couldn't live an entire day without. "Now you can't go to a concert without seeing people holding up their camera phones, taking a shot and sending it to their friends who couldn't make the concert," said Lisa Malloy, manager of corporate communications for Sprint. Customers of all ages enjoy the multimedia services, which often cost extra and can add up. Teens especially, however, view the variety in terms of self-expression. "It's all about making your phone your own," Malloy said."</i><br /><br />Teenagers must realize that, just like the driver's license, the cell phone is a <i>privilege</i> and not a right. Actually the statement applies to all the cell phone users. ;-)

[Jon Westfall]

Back when I first bought a cell phone (a pre-paid Qualcomm 2700 that was $50 to start and around $0.50 a minute), I was in 11th grade. Thinking back, the only reason I bought one was because I thought it would come in handy, I had $50 to burn, a friend said he might get one, so I thought what the heck. Within a few days of using it (and hiding it, as it was forbidden at my high school), I realized its real purpose. My grandmother went back into the hospital with kidney problems and my parents used it to let me know if anything happened or where they would be (i.e. at hospital, at home, etc..) if plans changed.

Pity that kids today buy them mostly out of peer pressure to have one, and once they have them, have so many minutes to burn they don't realize that the phone is a tool, not a toy.

Strangely now, when my Motorola Mpx rings, I try my hardest to find an excuse NOT to talk on it ;)