Let’s be real: It’s 2019 and technology isn’t the future anymore; it’s the present. Being a teenager today means relying on our phones for almost every single task: We use them to text our friends, stay connected to the outside world, wake us up in the morning, turn in homework, and more. Teens and cellphones are a fixture now, and our phones are integrated into almost every part of daily life.
The Importance Of Cellphones For Teenagers
How can we do all these tasks when a parent can just snatch our phones out from under us at any given time? Sure, taking a teenager’s phone away for a substantial amount of time can get a parent’s point across. But it can also make us withdraw socially. That makes us feel disconnected from everyone and everything. And it can put our organizational systems out of whack.
When our phones get taken away, it makes us feel like our parents don’t trust us to get on top of whatever we’re being punished for. They’re taking the phone because they think it’s the only way to motivate us to do what they want.
Unfortunately, this action has only negative effects. It doesn’t make us want to do our tasks sooner. It’s like realizing your child can’t sleep, then taking away their favorite blanket in hopes of helping them sleep. Why take something away when you can make a trade or deal that genuinely motivates us? You know what your teenagers like—say, your artistic teen might like some new charcoals—and maybe offering us something small could motivate us to take action sooner.
Instead, when parents take our phones, we are sitting around feeling lazy and mad, all the while waiting to get our lives back. Parents, there are better ways to motivate our behavior than taking our phones away.
