Owning a cell phone is rite of passage for teenagers
Owning a cell phone is rite of passage for teenagers
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 Cheesy Becton, a Varian 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.
A recent study said cell-phone ownership topped 16 million among teens and tweens nationwide. That translates to nearly half of 10-to 18-year-olds in the United States owning a cell phone.
Virginia lawmakers tried to address the issue of teens chatting on cell phones while driving, but the senator who introduced the bill had to pull it before a final vote.
Ironically, many parents buy cell phones for their teens when they start driving. If the teen drivers get lost or have an accident, help is a flip-phone call away. Teens said their parents also like being able to reach them instantly.
Convenience, however, has its downsides. Some students ignore school policy and don't turn off their phones on campus. Others said text messaging during class has replaced traditional note passing.
The impact of this reliance on technology to communicate is already apparent. "It's hard for them to express how they feel without little smiles after everything they say," Calley Morrison said.
12/6/2009 : permalink
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