Catholic Online Forum

You may have heard about this. The story has. as they say, gone "viral".


You can read a summary of her contract here ==> Mom's Smartphone Contract

Do your teens have smartphones? If so, what kind of rules or restrictions do you put on their use?

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David L (CA)
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

I prefer to use stupid phones, but if you can get your kid to sign that and honor it that would be an indication that the child is already very different from his peers probably due to strict rules already in place.

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Pax et Bonum


Schultzz

A few of the eighteen points in the contract:

• I love you madly & look forward to sharing several million text messages with you in the days to come. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren’t I the greatest?

• I will always know the password.

• Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone’s land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected. *Half days, field trips and after school activities will require special consideration.

• If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs. Mow a lawn, babysit, stash some birthday money. It will happen, you should be prepared.

• It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It’s a life skill.

• Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.

• Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.

• Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that.

• Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else’s private parts. Don’t laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear — including a bad reputation.

• Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without Googling.

• You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.

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David L (CA)
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

As a mother, I have to shrug.

Your kids have to be on board with those sorts of points, anyway, or mom would never be able to enforce that sort of contract.

The only kids at our house who have cell phones are those who need to be out of the house for reasons such as college classes or a job, and they contribute to paying for the phone, which goes much farther toward having the kids treat the things like the tools they are instead of toys.

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Rose West
"May God help us not to spoil His work" (Bl. Mother Theresa)

Would you say she is off base to get a thirteen-year-old a smartphone in the first place?

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David L (CA)
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

Qualified yes. If my thirteen year old had more than one or two activities, I might want them to have a stupid phone that can talk and text so as to make all the drop off/pick up arrangements that have to be made, but they don't need a smartphone until they can afford it themselves.

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Rose West
"May God help us not to spoil His work" (Bl. Mother Theresa)

Rules and conditions, fine, but one or two absurd contrasts struck me when I saw the article.

The phone is to be turned off from mid-evening 'til breakfast time, not taken to school, and is to be turned off or silenced in public. Each point with a reasonable idea behind it. Fine.

But...

"Do not ignore calls from Mom or Dad." Ummm, yeah, I see where you're coming from, Mom. However, if you hardly let him take it anywhere, and tell him to have it turned off in all sorts of settings when he does have it with him - How is he going to know if you're calling?

"...after school activities will require special consideration" After-school activities tend to happen after school. Immediately after school. As in "there isn't time to go home to get it and come back". So why not simply have the rule be "it goes to school turned off and stays locked in your locker"

What is this Mom going to do the first time there's a situation they need to reach their son - or he needs to reach them - or God forbid he needs to call 911 - and it can't happen because her rules neutralize the basic usefulness of this device?

Really, I don't see why a smartphone at all. You can get a perfectly functional basic phone. Calls, texting - yeah. You can actually still get phones without cameras these days. I think there are still phones/service plans that restrict functionality of a phone to an approved contact list.

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Rob

That's me. No smartphone

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Bob C

David,



But without a smartphone the kid wouldn't be able to play Slotmania...



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-14/p ... es/4463562



Sounds about par for the course for most gamblers.

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James Daly

"It is the Lord." (Jn 21:7)