This is probably not going to go over well with the younger set if they read my blog at any time. But it will go over a whole lot better with the parents of said teens. The fact is that teen cell phone usage is through the moon in expenses. I read a news report about a 12 year old, that’s pre-teen, who had gotten her cell phone taken away for several months because she ran the bill up over $220 more than the parents expected to see. She just happened to use 1,022 extra calling minutes and more than 200 text messages. WOW!
Now, I have a cell phone, a pre-paid one. We do not allow a teen to use it at all. We pay for the minutes we want. I cannot imagine using that many minutes a month. But teens are using more and more minutes and texting much more than ever before. At this point, it’s a whole new world. According to the stats I saw, 15.6 million people between 13 and 17 have cellphones as of two months ago.
The thing is, text messaging costs a lot of money. On our phone, it costs us 15 cents to text and that much to receive. When you have a pre-paid phone, you notice each time you do anything just how much it costs. If we were to text a bunch of people, it would cost most of what we put on the phone. Teens text as a matter of course. It is not surprising that they go way over the limit during a month. In fact, parents are beginning to panic about it. I know I would.
For instance, a father gave his pre-teen a cell phone. In her infinite wisdom racked up over $1000 bill texting, downloading ringtones and talking. The father, thinking that he could control the situation, turned off various services. Much to his surprise, they were re-activated by the kid. That’s when the cell phone comes back to Papa!! Sorry kid.
Another parent found that her 15 year old daughter had sent over 10,000 text messages during the month costing her over $800 extra on the bill. Obviously, this is only the tip of the iceberg. But hope is still available. Remember when I mentioned the pre-paid cell phone? That would be what I recommend to give to the teens and pre-teens who must text message and talk, talk, talk. Many of the companies now have good plans to help distressed parents in their fight to reduce cell phone bills. We happen to have an AT&T Go phone. It works beautifully. The teens and pre-teens might not like it too much. It means that if they want to have more time, they must buy it themselves or wait until the next reload of the minutes. Why not. Stops all the big bills. I’m all for that.
