it's lunchtime. i'm just finishing up my lab work for my meteorology class. in mypocket, my phone vibrates. it only happens once, and it is quick. i know i have a text message waiting for me. i sneak a peak, expecting the message to be from one of my friends, asking if i want to meet up for lunch. instead, i see my mother's cell phone number. "Hi, Sweetie! Can you give me a call after class? No emergency, I just miss you!" i smile at the message, but i am not surprised. my parents are always texting me, rather than trying to call and have to leave a voicemail for me later.
moments like these make me think back to middle school, when text messaging was just starting to become popular. my parents would always give me a hard time about it. not so much the cost, because i usually paid them to have a texting service plan. they just didn't understand it. they figured it's just so much easier to call that person. well, as i continued to text, and when my younger brother got his cell phone and started to text as well, we starting sending text messages to my parents. not a lot, since they never had a plan, but just once in awhile saying that we couldn't call but this was what was going on. they started to catch on. now, everyone on our plan has the unlimited texting option.
my mom prides herself on looking younger than she actually is. i mean really, how many 44 year olds do you know that drive a convertible mustang, have a razr cell phone, and have red hair? she's in good shape, and we share tastes in music and movies. she fully supports my penn state education, but you'll never catch her in a shirt that says penn state mom. she doesn't want anyone to know she's old enough to have a child in college! while my dad is not quite so crazy, he acts younger than he is, too (i hear that a lot of men do...). so it's no surprise that they would be up to date on the latest technology. but my parents are not the only ones texting their children.
my parents jokingly call my cell phone "an electronic leash." in a way, it's very true. they can get in touch with me anytime, anywhere, whether i'm in the next room at home, or 250 miles away at school. text messages just make that even easier. but my parents are not that strict or overprotective. i have friends who MUST call their parents every day, or else their parents will get mad at them. my roommate's parents are threatening to shut down her cell phone service because she doesn't call them often enough. news reports are calling cell phones "the world's longest umbilical cords." some controlling parents are picking up on the text messaging as an easier way to get in touch with their children and see what they're up to. the news has dubbed these parents "helicopter parents." so why do parents feel the need to hover over their children? i realize that it is the parents' responsibilities to teach their children and help them grow. but as a mom, you should not be driving up to your son's college and doing his laundry for him. by the time we hit college, we should be self-supporting, or close to it. when you hear stories like these, it's no wonder people my age are unruly, bratty and mooch off their parents for so long. this generation is spoiled rotten.
here's a few sites on the topic:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234282,00.html
http://www.news.com/Software-lets-parents-monitor-kids-calls/2009-1025_3-6195666.html
Comments (1)
I completely agree. My mother texts, and my dad has a blackberry (hence he can no longer distinguish between a cell phone call, an email, or a "vacation unplugged"). My mother started texting me in the same way yours did. I would text when it was too late to call the house back in high school (I have a YOUNG sister, which = bed early in my house).
But they never got over protective about it. I was brought up that if the kid wasn't capable of living on his own at this level without a parent's constant assistance, it was the parent's fault for not preparing him. Interesting post!
Posted by Paul Langdon | October 15, 2007 2:11 PM
Posted on October 15, 2007 14:11