Generation Gap: Smart Phones

zach1990 · November 28, 2012

Geez its amazing how quick tech has changed I'm just 22 and got a cheap cell phone as a teen and at ten wanted legos and what not. Give a 10 year old legos or toys now and ur kid will run away

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Morgan1986 · November 28, 2012

Geez its amazing how quick tech has changed I'm just 22 and got a cheap cell phone as a teen and at ten wanted legos and what not. Give a 10 year old legos or toys now and ur kid will run away

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I still like legos ....

RCP · November 28, 2012

He's 16 when he goes to work and pays for his phone he can have whatever phone he can afford. Of course this will point to the age thing. To me it has become a step in growing up, my two youngest kids used my truck to get back and forth to work and paid for their own cell phones while I helped them shop for something to drive. All three of my kids learned early on that the only free ride they had was a roof over their heads and 3 meals aday as long as they were in school. Leave school its time to pay their way. All of them earned enough money to get good dependable transportaion that lasted them until they could do better. Just saying that it worked for me your results may vary!!

Could not agree more. I have a 17 year old step daughter who is as spoiled as they come, as a matter of fact I'm sad to say that when my wife and I get into an arguement it's 90% of the time regarding the step daughter. She refuses to get a job because as she says if she does "she won't have a life". I'm pretty much powerless to do anything about it because try as I may she always manages to get what she wants either by sweet talking my wife when I'm at work or by my inlaws giving her what she wants. When she was 15 I tried to motivate her by telling her that I would match dollar for dollar whatever she could earn by babysitting, chores, etc. to buy herself a car when she turned 16. She wouldn't babysit because can you believe that most people need babysitters on weekend nights so that they can go out? We just couldn't have that! So when she turned 16 she hadn't saved 1 red cent for a vehicle but guess what. Grandpa shows up to her birthday party in a shiney new Scion Tc. So I tell her she needs to get a job to pay for the insurance thats going to come with that nice new car. She whined and cried to the inlaws about how mean I was and next thing you know they've insured her and the car under their plan. So now she's driving around in her nice new car, payment free and still has no job but manages to get her hands on gas money all the time to go to the mall or cruise around town with her friends.

About the only thing I actually have control over is the cell phones and you would have thought I was the worst human being in the world when we became eligible to upgrade and my wife and I went to the iPhone 5 and I told her I was not upgrading her because I refused to sign a new 2 year contract on that line that would leave me paying for her cell phone until she was almost 20 years old. Anyways, thanks for letting me vent sorry if I got a little side tracked from the original topic.

BTW- I love my iPhone 5! The LTE speed is amazing! My phone is honestly faster on the 4GLTE than it is when connected to wifi.

music · November 28, 2012

I should clarify something from my first post, as I didn't really mean to focus on the oldest son. He will get a voice flip phone when he starts driving and is in the job market for his spending money. He knows this, and is cool with it. They each got an ipod Touch last year, and he does all the "networking" he cares to while in wifi areas (including our house). Phones are banned at school, and we take him to practices, etc. There's just no need for a data phone in their pocket. Besides, as I told him, I'm not paying that much so that he can face-whatever even more than he does now I'm fine with him doing the social thing to a limited point (fitting in), but maybe I can keep it in check until each is old enough to not get lost in it. I actually had this discussion w/ him and my middle one (girl). "What if I gave you $50 per month. Would you get that phone, or would you keep it for other stuff you want?" Both answered immediately... keep it! I tell them the cost of things, and make them run minimum wage rates to figure the hours, etc., trying to keep it real. I also see it as our job as parents to not miss-spend dollars that we can use to help them get a jump on life (education, etc.). I'll happily help them all the way, and pay out much bigger $$ than phones will ever amount to, but only if their head's on straight, and their working hard in school, etc.

The data phone idea is really more about the two adults in the family, for now The crazy thing, is that my work will subsidize my data plan if I add it. I've just been avoiding becoming tethered to work 24 hours a day. The truth is, that I probably already am. I always have a "work laptop" with me, should an emergency arise, as I'm the go-to in a fairly complex instrument/computer/network lab setup. I may try an ipad or something like that for quicker response to simple things (no booting, etc.), but it isn't "needed". The data "phone" is different, as it's too small to be efficient for real work (imho), and too big/expensive to stick in my pocket while working on a tractor at home. It just seems to be an odd bird to me, yet everyone loves them, and doesn't mind paying a mint to have them in their pocket. I'm opening my mind here... but slowly.

music · November 28, 2012

I have my entire music library with me at all times thanks to Google Music, too.

Isn't that a server-based service? I've wondered about this, since it would eat up a lot of bandwith on a phone, vs dumping to a SD card. I have well over 20 GB of music. I'm assuming that you'd only use this w/ wifi?

music · November 28, 2012

Anyways, thanks for letting me vent sorry if I got a little side tracked from the original topic.

You're doing right, imho. I'd like to believe that the grandparents are doing "wrong", but then I see the likes of Paris Hilton. Lots of easy money can overcome a lot of lazy

jlr860 · November 28, 2012

I'm 24 don't have a smartphone still. Got my first phone shortly after I turned 16 mainly because my parents wanted me to have one more than I did. I want a smartphone and believe it would be very useful day to day as far as keeping up with school, schedules, and just being able to look up anything. But I also believe learning to be content without constantly having some toy to occupy you at all times is a good lesson for a younger kid to learn. Also I didn't get texting until shortly before I graduated high school. I requested it from my parents because everyone had just started assuming you had it (dang spoiled kids) and I was missing out on a lot of messages invites for certain things. While I did get texting it really wasn't mandatory and I let that be known and would have blamed my friends for just assuming I had it instead of my parents for not getting it for me. As far as texting goes it is pretty useful I can let someone know something really short and sweet if I know they are busy lot nicer than a voice mail at least on my phone so much easier to get to and read.

So I honestly don't think it's terrible to get your kids a smartphone but I think it's best if they earn it through work or some way. Doing well in school to me isn't that hard and shouldn't be earning it especially college that stuff is going to pay for itself. The one way not having a smartphone may hinder me is that I'm majoring in IT and have had to support those things in a student worker job so it would have been nice to have been familiar with them but I'm doing just fine without.

kstruckcountry · November 28, 2012

When I was in grade school all I wanted was a play station or Xbox. Had the money, but my folks wouldn't let me. Sometimes there's just rules.

00Silverado4x4 · November 28, 2012

When I was in grade school all I wanted was a play station or Xbox. Had the money, but my folks wouldn't let me. Sometimes there's just rules.

When I was in grade school, those things weren't invented yet....Atari 2600 baby!!!

Morgan1986 · November 28, 2012

He's 16 when he goes to work and pays for his phone he can have whatever phone he can afford. Of course this will point to the age thing. To me it has become a step in growing up, my two youngest kids used my truck to get back and forth to work and paid for their own cell phones while I helped them shop for something to drive. All three of my kids learned early on that the only free ride they had was a roof over their heads and 3 meals aday as long as they were in school. Leave school its time to pay their way. All of them earned enough money to get good dependable transportaion that lasted them until they could do better. Just saying that it worked for me your results may vary!!

Could not agree more. I have a 17 year old step daughter who is as spoiled as they come, as a matter of fact I'm sad to say that when my wife and I get into an arguement it's 90% of the time regarding the step daughter. She refuses to get a job because as she says if she does "she won't have a life". I'm pretty much powerless to do anything about it because try as I may she always manages to get what she wants either by sweet talking my wife when I'm at work or by my inlaws giving her what she wants. When she was 15 I tried to motivate her by telling her that I would match dollar for dollar whatever she could earn by babysitting, chores, etc. to buy herself a car when she turned 16. She wouldn't babysit because can you believe that most people need babysitters on weekend nights so that they can go out? We just couldn't have that! So when she turned 16 she hadn't saved 1 red cent for a vehicle but guess what. Grandpa shows up to her birthday party in a shiney new Scion Tc. So I tell her she needs to get a job to pay for the insurance thats going to come with that nice new car. She whined and cried to the inlaws about how mean I was and next thing you know they've insured her and the car under their plan. So now she's driving around in her nice new car, payment free and still has no job but manages to get her hands on gas money all the time to go to the mall or cruise around town with her friends.

About the only thing I actually have control over is the cell phones and you would have thought I was the worst human being in the world when we became eligible to upgrade and my wife and I went to the iPhone 5 and I told her I was not upgrading her because I refused to sign a new 2 year contract on that line that would leave me paying for her cell phone until she was almost 20 years old. Anyways, thanks for letting me vent sorry if I got a little side tracked from the original topic.

BTW- I love my iPhone 5! The LTE speed is amazing! My phone is honestly faster on the 4GLTE than it is when connected to wifi.

Sounds like her friends are the same as her becuase she has so much time to spend with her friends. Sounds like she is almost done high school she should change quickly as she will see her friends going to college or trade school , or working in MC donalads (nothing wrong with fast food ) She acts like a kid still but things might change in 3 years. When she sees her friends moving on in life. You know if you dont want her driving around just take a fuse out of her car she will never figure it out lol .

Chris · November 28, 2012

I was on call for my grandparents because they got me my first phone and paid for it. My grandfather had cancer and then died so I was doing everything for my grandmother who had rheumatoid arthritis. She was happy to pay my $30 phone bill because of all I did for her.

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waumo1 · November 28, 2012

I agree with the OP.

I have a pay by the minute cell phone and I turn it on if I need to use it. I routinely forget to take it with me, but I don't worry because I know it is a convenience not a necessity. I have no desire to have an electronic leash on me which from my observation is the primary function of the phones people have glued to them at all times.

lowrider · November 28, 2012

I have 5 phones on my Verizon plan. Three smart phones and 2 basic (dumb?) phones. I have my three granddaughters on our plan. My phone is a Droid 3 (I absolutely require a real keyboard) my wife's and the youngest granddaughter (16) have older LG basic phones with a keyboard, the two older granddaughters (19 & 21) have iPhones. We have 1400 talking minutes, unlimited texting on all lines and 2 GB data ea. on the smart phones. Both girls use their allotment of data. I have to keep a close eye to see that they don't go over. I hardly use any data, I do most of my internet stuff on the computer. However, when I travel, I use my phone as a hot spot for my iPad, and use maybe .5 GB. Anyway, my bill with all that stuff is $207.00 a month. Just thought I'd put things into perspective.

Lou

Morgan1986 · November 29, 2012

With cell phone deals I dont even know why people get land phones.

00Silverado4x4 · November 29, 2012

With cell phone deals I dont even know why people get land phones.

Exactly why I haven't had a land line for several years now. If someone needs to get a hold of me, call/text me. I'll get the message a whole lot sooner that way.