Cell Phones are dangerous for teenagers. I do want to clarify that in this post I am referring to smart phones.
I know you may not want to hear that but it is the truth.
Please hear me out.
I am talking from experience and would really like to share in part what happened when I gave my teenagers cell phones.
If you are thinking about giving your teenager a cell phone I would highly advise you not to. Please wait as long as you can. They really don’t need it. If you need a way to get in contact with them consider a call and text only phone.
The 5 Reasons:
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Cell Phones are addictive. Teenagers will download games to play, Snapchat to interact with friends, Instagram to see what their friends are doing, YouTube to watch videos. I have not heard of a single teenager downloading useful apps to better their life. For the most part teenagers (and adults) want to see what others are doing and to have an escape once in a while.
My young adult daughters started with Snapchat when they got their first cell phones as teenagers.
I just want to say that I hate Snapchat.
I could never understand my teens sending streaks for one thing. The problem began when other people besides their friends started contacting them to be friends. Especially boys. It went from bad to worse when inappropriate pics were received.
Please don’t let your teens get Snapchat.
Social media is a dangerous place to be because it sucks you in and infects you like a virus that you can’t get out.
The problem is that teenagers get stuck there and don’t want to come out and live in the real world.
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This leads me to the second reason and that is that teenagers become stuck in their cell phones. They don’t want to live their life because they are too busy tracking their friends lives or whoever else is influencing them. They fall into depression because their life doesn’t seem as great as those they are watching. They become anxious because they don’t know how to handle their life and juggle what is necessary like school and their home life.
It takes over their life and they don’t know how to get out.
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Cell Phones can be taken with them anywhere. They have the Internet at their fingertips. Unless of course you set some strict rules and boundaries. Don’t let them go to bed with them because they will be up most of the night doing who knows what. Even if they tell you they can be trusted they can’t. Not at that young age. My daughters would tell me the same thing. They were brought up to be respectful and responsible but they ended up making very big mistakes with their cell phones.
Most of the time the best thing to do is NOT to give them a cell phone.
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The online world is a dangerous place. There are people who don’t care about your child not one bit. They can be bullied or taken advantage of. Most teens won’t even talk to you about what they may see or hear on their cell phones. Even all those videos they are watching that may seem harmless are not. They are being influenced by them.
Do you know what your teens are using their cell phones for?
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Cell phones are affecting a teenagers overall health.
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Physically it is affecting them negatively. They just want to lounge on their bed all day long. They have no desire to be active.
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Mentally it has a negative effect. Their brain is being rewired and not in a good way. When it comes to focusing on homework or studying for a test they can’t seem to focus. They get irritated and don’t want to help out around the house or go out on family outings.
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If it was up to them they would load their room up with their favorite food, burrow in their bed with their cell phone, and stay there until they needed to use the bathroom.
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