Texting Fever – Tips on Getting Teens to Look Up from Their Cell Phones

Friday, January 21st, 2011
Written By Luke Gilkerson
Categories: Parenting the Internet Generation, Technology, Life, and Culture

Texting Fever – Tips on Getting Teens to Look Up from Their Cell Phones

Does your teen seem to be glued to his or her cell phone? Does your teen seem to be better at texting than having a face-to-face conversation?

Teens and adults alike sometimes need a healthy dose of “Text Ed.” That’s why the folks at LG brought in Emmy Award-winning Jane Lynch to help families lay some cell phone ground rules. This video cracked me up.

Managing Your Teen’s Mobile Usage, by Rosalind Wiseman

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In the above article, Wiseman writes, “Think about and decide how your family values transfer into the use of technology.” She advises parents on subjects like:

mobile technology manners
respecting others
holding your kids and teens accountable
taking advantage of usage controls

Most of the advice Wiseman offers is really more related to parenting than technology. The big question for parents is not simply, “How do I keep my family safe on the Internet?” The big question is rather, “How do I parent my kids well in a cyber-culture?” When parents only react to perceived cell phone dangers or misuses, we miss out on the opportunities to instill the values our kids need to make wise and moral choices.