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Cellphone Etiquette for Kids
By Warren Buckleitner
KidTech
Remember those triangle-shaped notes you used to pass to friends between your classes? To today’s middle schooler, cellphones are like those–times 50. They’re also Polaroid cameras, tape recorders, CB radios, flashlights, a stack of favorite music albums and photo scrapbook — not to mention a social lifeline at a time when relationships are as important as oxygen.
To an increasing number of parents and grandparents, cellphones in youthful hands are an irritation on par with a swarm of mosquitoes. This pocket-sized miracle just may be an inter-generational wedge larger than rock and roll ever was. So perhaps it’s time for a dose of old-fashioned digital etiquette, for both parents and kids. Gadgetwise readers, if you have your own ideas for parenting in the cell phone age, feel free to contribute.
Here’s my list, starting with what kids should know:
• Always take a call from the person who is paying the bill.
• Please (PLZ) and thank you (TY) work like magic, even if you text them. Manners will never go out of style, in any form.
• Abide by your school or library’s cellphone policy. An un-silenced ringer during an art lesson can land you in detention. It can also get your mom or dad in trouble during a religious service or while on the commuter bus from Flemington to Port Authority.
• Be charitable. Your phone is a powerful tool that can help a kid stranded after soccer practice.
• Don’t be sneaky. Instead of hiding your cell phone under the picnic table, let everyone in on the unfolding drama of your text streams. You’ll be surprised how much adults love gossip, plus it helps them learn about what’s going on in your life.
• Timing is everything, especially when you take that call. If you politely excuse yourself and step into the next room, you might just avoid Grandpa’s ire.
• Don’t get your friends in trouble. If you know they’re at a family dinner, or it is getting late, be polite and say “Text me when your dinner is over.”
• Don’t text bad words or embarrassing messages friends. It can get you and your friend in trouble when their parents snoop through their messages. And they do.
• Planning an argument? Do it in person. Cell phones are also recorders, and text messages can end up on a FaceBook page.
• Ear buds and open screens signal, “Go away – I don’t want to talk to you.” Try pulling out your ear buds or closing your screen, and giving someone your full attention. It works like magic.
• Look them in the eyes. The technical term for it is “interpersonal communication” — and it’s such a big deal that educational psychologist Howard Gardner counts it as a multiple intelligence. You don’t develop these skills if you’re glued to a screen.
• Keep a couple of your parent’s wedding photos as your wallpaper, just in case your phone gets confiscated.
As for parents and grandparents, here’s what you should keep in mind:
• Teach your child basic cellphone functions – such as mute. Be there when they pick their PIN, set up voicemail and other features. This is the time to learn along with your child, while the novelty of the gadget is still there, and they still like you.
• Let them teach you. Say “how did you do that?” whenever they discover a new feature, and have them explain it to you.
• Make your next phone one with a QWERTY keyboard, to help with your texts.
• Establish phone-free times, or zones, where your child’s phone is out of mind. This can free them from the temptation of wondering if that important text message has arrived.
• Forbidden fruit often looks better than it actually is. If you clamp down on cell phone use with time limits and restrictions, you risk creating a clandestine under-the-table texter that could create a run on Verizon stock. And there’s an app for that – such as the mosquito ring tone. That’s the ring tone that kids can hear, that parent’s can’t. Why? Too much rock and roll, probably.
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By Warren Buckleitner
KidTech
Remember those triangle-shaped notes you used to pass to friends between your classes? To today’s middle schooler, cellphones are like those–times 50. They’re also Polaroid cameras, tape recorders, CB radios, flashlights, a stack of favorite music albums and photo scrapbook — not to mention a social lifeline at a time when relationships are as important as oxygen.
To an increasing number of parents and grandparents, cellphones in youthful hands are an irritation on par with a swarm of mosquitoes. This pocket-sized miracle just may be an inter-generational wedge larger than rock and roll ever was. So perhaps it’s time for a dose of old-fashioned digital etiquette, for both parents and kids. Gadgetwise readers, if you have your own ideas for parenting in the cell phone age, feel free to contribute.
Here’s my list, starting with what kids should know:
• Always take a call from the person who is paying the bill.
• Please (PLZ) and thank you (TY) work like magic, even if you text them. Manners will never go out of style, in any form.
• Abide by your school or library’s cellphone policy. An un-silenced ringer during an art lesson can land you in detention. It can also get your mom or dad in trouble during a religious service or while on the commuter bus from Flemington to Port Authority.
• Be charitable. Your phone is a powerful tool that can help a kid stranded after soccer practice.
• Don’t be sneaky. Instead of hiding your cell phone under the picnic table, let everyone in on the unfolding drama of your text streams. You’ll be surprised how much adults love gossip, plus it helps them learn about what’s going on in your life.
• Timing is everything, especially when you take that call. If you politely excuse yourself and step into the next room, you might just avoid Grandpa’s ire.
• Don’t get your friends in trouble. If you know they’re at a family dinner, or it is getting late, be polite and say “Text me when your dinner is over.”
• Don’t text bad words or embarrassing messages friends. It can get you and your friend in trouble when their parents snoop through their messages. And they do.
• Planning an argument? Do it in person. Cell phones are also recorders, and text messages can end up on a FaceBook page.
• Ear buds and open screens signal, “Go away – I don’t want to talk to you.” Try pulling out your ear buds or closing your screen, and giving someone your full attention. It works like magic.
• Look them in the eyes. The technical term for it is “interpersonal communication” — and it’s such a big deal that educational psychologist Howard Gardner counts it as a multiple intelligence. You don’t develop these skills if you’re glued to a screen.
• Keep a couple of your parent’s wedding photos as your wallpaper, just in case your phone gets confiscated.
As for parents and grandparents, here’s what you should keep in mind:
• Teach your child basic cellphone functions – such as mute. Be there when they pick their PIN, set up voicemail and other features. This is the time to learn along with your child, while the novelty of the gadget is still there, and they still like you.
• Let them teach you. Say “how did you do that?” whenever they discover a new feature, and have them explain it to you.
• Make your next phone one with a QWERTY keyboard, to help with your texts.
• Establish phone-free times, or zones, where your child’s phone is out of mind. This can free them from the temptation of wondering if that important text message has arrived.
• Forbidden fruit often looks better than it actually is. If you clamp down on cell phone use with time limits and restrictions, you risk creating a clandestine under-the-table texter that could create a run on Verizon stock. And there’s an app for that – such as the mosquito ring tone. That’s the ring tone that kids can hear, that parent’s can’t. Why? Too much rock and roll, probably.
source