Dear Michele, I am not sure why you are inserting yourself into this conversation. You, clearly, are not in the category of teens that find it difficult to manage their time because it is easier and maybe more entertaining to have all their focus on a 3 1/2 by 5 inch screen hours on end. The issue here is what should parents do when what started out as a good idea is now disabling our children. I purchased a phone for my daughter and pay the monthly expense so my child has a way to reach me when needed; but, it is now consuming her every waking moment. She is nearly 17 and I have very serious concerns. I am not accustomed to seeing teens, and now adults, with their heads down, thumbs scrolling when they are on the job, whether it be house keeping, waiting tables, land scraping, in a security role, etc. The phone goes into their pocket, but, in a moment, it is back out again and the whole thing is repeated. Heads up, everyone! There is incoming and it is called life as well as all the physical damage from having the cervical spine constantly bent in this position and the eyes fixed on a screen. The message to our teens is that, unless the adult can no longer support the monthly fee for them to have it, they don’t need to give up their phones. Just consider managing it better instead of allowing it to manage you.

Your parents are your legal guardians. Usually that means they can do anything related to you short of breaking the law.

When I hear that the kids will suffer ‘separation anxiety…FOMO’, if you take their phones away, I think….seriously?! Maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t be suffering from these behaviors, if they didn’t see parents have their phones connected at their hips. It’s called ‘setting an example’. This seems to have disappeared once tech was introduced to their young lives. Now, these devices serve as a baby sitter for the most part. I have asked some family members why they give their kids ‘tech’ at such a young age. Their response is usually ‘what am I supposed to do, all of their friends have them’. Teach them not to conform so much but instill some confidence in them at an early age. It’s so simple(even though parenting is the hardest job in the world). These devices compel such rude behavior from the present generation. I honestly think that they would know it the sky turned purple…because they are looking down so much. Accidenti!!!!

Today my son, who is 16 years old, meet a girl online. He is infatuated with her. They message all day long. They haven’t met, apparently the girl lives in California. We live in Florida. She messages him at 6:00 am every morning, that is 3:00 am in California. He is failing 10th grade; I’m having to constantly ask him if he has completed his schoolwork. At this stage, I think he should be responsible over his assignments. As punishment and because having a cellphone is a privilege, I’ve taken the phone away and he goes into a deep depression, crying for hours. He told this girl, he hates me. I know because I’ve read some of the messages. When a child does not honor this mother or father, something went wrong along the way. I’m a divorced mom and work full time. Their dad picks them up every other weekend, in my opinion it’s not sufficient time spent with his sons, but this is how he wanted it. I do believe the divorce affected the kids, especially the older one. I pray my son will one day have self-love, focus on his career and where he wants to go in life because talking to this girl online goes nowhere. Nothing but a dead end. I hope one day he understands, I only wanted the best for him.

👍🏼

im in the same boat too rn. my parents took my phone a month ago due to ‘bad grades’ that wasn’t my fault. i have really awful teachers that don’t care about teaching or actually doing their job and some of them are anti-lgbtq+ which makes them give us lower scores even if we answered all the questions correctly. sorry, went on a slight rant. im just mad at my parents backing up my teachers and taking my phone when all my friends live hours away from me. parents really said “no social life for you”, am i right? anyways i hope you got you’re phone back since it’s been two years now. i hate the thought of being isolated that long.

Well said, and one of the only adults on here willing to accept reality.