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Teens + Cellphones = Trouble ?? Right off, I have to say that the argument of whether teens should have cell phones is moot. That train has already left the station. Most teens have a cell phone and they are going to use them. And that's mostly a good thing for parents. If you are a parent, you know you can reach your child wherever they are. You know that in an emergency they can call for help. You know that if their car breaks down, they aren't at the mercy of passers-by for help. Recent news stories about a teen charged with having child-porn on a cell phone after exchanging pictures with other teens via cell phone, predators and bullies contacting kids via phone, and the like serve highlight the other side of the coin. Similarly, there are stories about teens getting overwhelmed by constant text messaging, sometimes unwanted texts, to the point it impacts school work. And we're not talking about doing a lot of texting, we're talking about thousands of texts a month. So, what's a parent to do? First thing - talk with your teen. Not "at", but "with" your teen. If you aren't too sure about what to discuss, read up on the subject at Teens & Technology. Next, you may want to give some thought to controlling the cell phone. Some phone services offer service specific parental control software like ATT&T's Smart Limits for Wireless. CNET's Digital Kids article "Software lets parents monitor kids' calls" explains how parents used mymobilewatchdog's Radar to help in a situation where a stranger was getting hostile with a 15-year-old. This software is not stealthy. Radar notifies the user that the phone is being monitored. This software works with a BlackBerry. (A comment on Realtechnews.com's "Radar Lets You Monitor Your Kids' Cell Phone Calls" indicates that you can purchase a BlackBerry Pearl at no cost when you sign up for Radar and another indicates that the service will be expanded to other phones like the Motorola Razr.) There are also more stealthy software solutions for exercising control of a cell phone. ParentalSoftware.org advertises Mobil Spy for Windows Mobile Smartphones. If one of these solutions isn't what you are looking for, then grab your favorite search engine and look for more. Posted by WEBnME @ 4/27/2008 03:45:00 PM 
Permanent Link: http://www.webnme.com/2008/04/teens-cellphones-trouble.asp SHARE: 
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