Are cell phones good for teens to have?

To the Editor:

Cell phones are the best thing to teens ages 12 to 18. Research shows having cell phones is cool …It’s a way to be social with your friends and to talk to their parents if something’s wrong and they’re not there.

Cell phones are every teenager’s dream to have. They will be texting their friends all the time. Our phones are our life; we couldn’t live without them!

If teens have an emergency, they can call or text their parents. If they don’t have a phone, they will have no way of telling them. Teens mostly text, and texting is cheaper than voice calls and for teens it’s just as effective.

Parents get upset and want to take their kids’ phones away because they worry about their social life more than school. But teens never want to give up their phones so teachers are finding ways to turn cell phones from a distraction into a learning tool. That will get a lot of teens to do a lot better in school so their parents will be a lot happier about grades.

Phones can be a problem because teens get bullied by texts. Ninety-five percent of teens got cyberbullied in 2012. People would spread rumors and text people information that is a secret and they would go and tell all their friends. If I were ever cyberbullied, I would just ignore it. I would be told, “Sticks and stones may hurt my bones but words will never hurt me.”

So I think teens are old enough to have cell phones and not lose their phones or bully people. And they will need one sooner or later. I’m not saying they need iPhones or any other expensive phones.

They will need cell phones for social reasons and for emergencies. Parents can even get something to look at their kids texts, who they’re texting, and whose texting them.

Cyndi Farrow

Farnsworth Middle School

Guilderland

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