Posted on 06/12/2009 3:04:45 PM PDT by lewisglad
This isn't exactly proud papa news: My daughter, Reina, who recently turned 13, just racked up 14,528 text messages in one month.
Thank God she's too young to drive.
Given that she's had a cell phone for less than six months, and she is supposed to share the phone with her 14-year-old brother (and use it mainly for emergencies) well, I'm speechless.
Or should I say, textless?
Her mother, Manako, recently got the phone bill from AT&T. Only 23 pages of the bill came with the bill mailed to her home in Lake Forest.
Manako went online and looked at the PDF version of the bill. The PDF file, covering the period from Nov. 27 to Dec. 26, totaled 440 pages.
OK, the bill included charges for two other phones, including one belonging to Reina's 22-year-old sister, Hana, who accounted for a comparatively modest 7,101 text messages during the same period. Older sister Marina, 24, accounted for a measly (whew!) 700.
But still A 440-page phone bill? Thankfully, Manako signed up all of them for unlimited texting.
If not, the 20 cents per text for Reina would have totaled $2,905.60.
That's a lot of house chores.
I'm no math whiz, but I did some quick calculations on Reina's thumb-numbing total.
Assuming my daughter slept an average of eight hours during the billing period (she usually sleeps more), that works out to 484 text messages a day or a text message every two minutes she was awake.
Could AT&T have made some mistake?
Wishful thinking. It's all true, based on the PDF file I reviewed.
I definitely am not LMAO (laughing my, er, butt off).
One small consolation: The 14,528 total includes text messages both sent and received.
Really, though. Is that any consolation?
.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
You said — Looks like she is running the show on your nickel.
—
It would be the “same nickel” no matter whether she did 10 messages or 10,000 messages... so the “nickel” doesn’t change....
Honestly, for certain camera-free security-sites it SHOULD be a rather popular option.
You said — Interesting but not surprising. I’m a 40 year-old man who has come to appreciate texting.
—
Well, I’m 20 years past you and I use it, too. My brother will text me when he doesn’t really want to get into a conversation on the phone. And I’ll do the same thing. A lot of times a conversation is not wanted and texting is just fine.
The thing that pissed me off with my daughter was texting when she shouldnt be...in school, late at night, during her study time.
I downloaded the information, sorted it by day and time (I am an excel geek) and put it into a grid. I showed her the distribution and told her that I was going to run another one 30 days from that date. If there was not improvement she would lose the phone for the next 30 days.
She improved dramatically.
If she is old enough to have a phone, she is old enough to be responsible. If there are no expectations other than, “you are texting too much” they have no idea when they cross the line. Determine acceptable goals with your daughter. Establish a measurement process. And then define the consequences—and follow through.
Just one Dad’s story. Your mileage may vary.
I usually send up to a half dozen texts a day and receive about the same.....I’m 59 years old and use the PHONE 3-4 times a month. HOW MANY PEOPLE do you know? And how many do you give a shit about? Apparently, none. Or you would interface with them, personally.
Good question. I don't know.
Greg, have you considered child sacrifice?
You said — I usually send up to a half dozen texts a day and receive about the same.....Im 59 years old and use the PHONE 3-4 times a month. HOW MANY PEOPLE do you know? And how many do you give a shit about? Apparently, none. Or you would interface with them, personally.
—
Well, it’s not quite that way. You see, with talking on the phone, or even talking in person, you must have both people available at the same time — and that’s either for the direct spoken conversation or the face-to-face one. And many times people can’t manage getting that accomplished when something needs to be confirmed or conveyed to the other person.
BUT, the text message is something that is sent when the sender is able (and not both people) and received and read when the receiver is *also able* (again not both available at the same time, which is not always convenient). And then the receiver can respond *when* they are able, which may not be at the time that they receive the message, but some time later.
So, there are three instances of *not matching up* — person-to-person..., which you may not be able to do all the time.
Text messaging allows each person to use *their own schedule* to the best of their own ability, no matter what the other person’s schedule is. That’s the real advantage to text messaging...
There’s an Apple computer there, but no iPhone... what gives?!
The family has ADD - Adult Deficit Disorder. They all need to grow up especially the father.
“Why take the phone?”
So she can’t text
I don’t normally recommend physically beating children. This is not a normal situation.
Nothing on a camera phone is immune to hackers, many people have learned the hard way on that
Your suggestion reminds me of the time in the late Eighties, when those brick-sized cell phones were in vogue among the Yuppie crowd. A Marine friend and I were annoyed by one fellow’s extremely loud conversation at the next table in a restaurant (back when reception wasn’t so good). When the blabbermouth went to the men’s room, my friend “accidently” bumped into his table then “accidently” stepped on the phone, which had fallen to the floor, in front of blabbermouth’s date. When the guy returned and saw what was left of his phone, his date pointed to my friend. The guy was livid and threatened my friend with bodily harm. When my friend stood up and invited him to take the “discussion” outside, the clown backed down and left with his date in a huff. Other patrons bought us drinks after the two left.
Sorry for the bad spelling..that should be “accidentally” not “accidently.”
Hubby has to threaten me to keep mine with me too...;0)
My kids have come to the conclusion that only kids with divorced parents get cell phones! I have not done anything to change this belief.
One more reason to homeschool!
Letterman seems to know what to do with daughters, ask him. /sarc
Way too easy to break someone financially if you have their cell phone number. Simple script program I figure I could drop a few thousand text messages an hour on a phone number, and it wouldn't cost me a dime to do it.
Sure it's probably illegal but anyone with comp knowledge and half a brain could do it anonymously and never get caught. Then it's up to the victim to dispute the charges to their provider, who in most cases will say tough, pay up.
I HATE getting text messages anyways. Just freaking pick up the phone and call, or if it's not important leave me alone until it is important. IM's on the computer doesn't bother me to much, unless the person typing
hits return
after every sentence
creating more
text spam
So if this kid is awake 16 hours of the day x 30 days in the month x 60 minutes per hour, that’s 28,800 minutes she’s awake for the month. You’re telling me she sent 1 text message every other minute?
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