page by page 01102000

January 10, 2000

Home James!

The newest fashion accessory for the teenagers in our city is the Cell Phone. These little gadgets have become so popular with the students at the local high school that their use been banned on school property. Not every student owns one of course, many of the parents are under excruciating pressure to produce. We have been exempted from this pressure. Someone more susceptible than her parents bought the Cell Phone.

There are pros and cons to this mobile form of communication. On the pro side safety comes to mind, "The Teenager" can call for help from anywhere. This technology has added a new dimension to the term "eyes on the street". I know that if "The Teenager" witnesses anything she considers untoward the Cell Phone will be put to use immediately. I hope that most of the teenagers wandering the streets with Cell Phones would do the same, for themselves and for others.

On the con side of things, there is the opportunity to call Mom for a ride because it just started to rain and she forgot her raincoat. There is the opportunity to call Mom for a ride because she just spent her last bit of cash on a frippery, rather than a bus ticket and does not feel like walking home. Fortunately, the chauffeur service she seeks to employ has an agenda, to promote responsibility and independence.

One mother I know of calls her daughter on the Cell Phone frequently throughout the day, just checking. I shudder at that level of surveillance, how intrusive it seems. Still, this instantly available communication might serve senior citizens well. A small, light Cell Phone carried in a pocket could mean that, after a fall, help could be immediately on the way.

Who knows, years from now "The Teenager" may find herself under excruciating pressure to produce a Cell Phone, for her mother!