13 y/o DD sent 7700 text messages so far this month...

[Anonymous]

And how are text to groups charged? If 4 friends are texting back and forth within a group, does each "send" send 3 texts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of the old people coming out on DCUM tonight, eh?

Yeah. OP is the parent of a teen.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't that count incoming and outgoing text messages? I am pretty sure that both are counted as part of texting.

So... One explanation could be mass group texts where there are like 10 text messages a minute moving in and out. My family has a mass text message that we all talk on and half the time I don't even look at it. I'm also on a group text with my two best girlfriends.

That said I'm at 763 text messages and my billing cycle ends on 2/6. Much less that your daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is so wrong with texting? Its better to talk on the phone for a couple of hours a night? Watch TV? Most of these texts are essentially "OMG" send. One word, two. Maybe sometimes more. This will hardly destroy their lives.

I agree that a lot of out of touch people are coming onto this thread. Sorry, one day your children will text. Unless they've moved on to the next thing. You probably already know that they don't email anymore, don't you?

My teen emails and texts. But usually not with the same kids-- it depends her friends' contact preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, that is 20 texts per hour, assuming she never sleeps. So if she does sleep, maybe 8 hours, she really needs to catch up to do over 400 per day. And if you don't think that is excessive, well, good luck to you as a parent. If she has anything less than a 4.0....

Kids these days don't talk on the phone. they text in place of speaking.

My kids don't. They know the rules. No texting until homework is down, showers taken, etc. = no problems. If my kid had done what yours had done, all privileges would have been taken (including phone) for at least a month. That's absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, that is 20 texts per hour, assuming she never sleeps. So if she does sleep, maybe 8 hours, she really needs to catch up to do over 400 per day. And if you don't think that is excessive, well, good luck to you as a parent. If she has anything less than a 4.0....

Kids these days don't talk on the phone. they text in place of speaking.

My kids don't. They know the rules. No texting until homework is down, showers taken, etc. = no problems. If my kid had done what yours had done, all privileges would have been taken (including phone) for at least a month. That's absurd.

My kids don't because they don't have phones. And they won't get them for a looooong time.

[Anonymous]

21 hours in 16 or 17 days isn't terrible, come on. Didn't you talk on the phone as a teen? That would have been nothing for me.

[Anonymous]

In 2010 teen girls were texting an average of 3500 texts a month. That is an average and more than 2 years ago. I imagine the average is even higher now as teens are more and more tech driven.

I think your daughter is perfectly normal, and a little on the higher end of average. Depends too if this was a typical month or if there was stuff going on that meant she texted more than usual.

I too spent hours on the phone as a teen so I don't have an issue at all with your daughter staying connected the way she is as long as it isn't interfering with life.

[Anonymous]

Be certain, she IS texting at school

Signed - hs teacher

[Anonymous]

My teens' cell phones are blocked from sending/receiving calls/texts during school hours and after curfew in the evenings. Problem solved.

And yes, I am fully aware that I could simply tell them the rules and set consequences for breaking them. I choose to pick my battles.

[Anonymous]

My teens' cell phones are blocked from sending/receiving calls/texts during school hours and after curfew in the evenings. Problem solved.

PP again. In addition, I can set certain phone numbers to override the blocks, so in case of an emergency DH and I are always able to get throuh to them and vice verse.

[Anonymous]

*through

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

First, I'm not upset at the number of texts. I just couldn't grasp being able to send that many in such a short amount of time. DH and I only have about 150 so far! Like many pp have stated, lots of these texts are one word texts, but yeah, still pretty shocked (I LOL'd when I saw it).

No cellphones at the dinner table and/or any family time. This is usually her after-school hobby after homework. She is addicted to the phone and I'm okay with her using it as long as her home stuff is done.

re: phone. She's used 200 minutes on her cellphone plan in the same amount of time. BUT, she's on the home phone off and on until her cutoff time. But, she's usually texting one friend while talking to another!!

I've told her no phone at school, so this amount of messages will have me making sure she is not texting during the school day.

OP, parents like you make me really fear for my kids' teen years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

First, I'm not upset at the number of texts. I just couldn't grasp being able to send that many in such a short amount of time. DH and I only have about 150 so far! Like many pp have stated, lots of these texts are one word texts, but yeah, still pretty shocked (I LOL'd when I saw it).

No cellphones at the dinner table and/or any family time. This is usually her after-school hobby after homework. She is addicted to the phone and I'm okay with her using it as long as her home stuff is done.

re: phone. She's used 200 minutes on her cellphone plan in the same amount of time. BUT, she's on the home phone off and on until her cutoff time. But, she's usually texting one friend while talking to another!!

I've told her no phone at school, so this amount of messages will have me making sure she is not texting during the school day.

OP, parents like you make me really fear for my kids' teen years.

Your post makes no sense. Sounds like you're going to smother your teen (and they will rebel and do far worse than texting).

[Anonymous]

To put the 21 hours thing in perspective, I spent 3 hours, 10 minutes on the phone with my boyfriend last night. He's across the country and we just talked like it was a normal night and we were relaxing at home. That's what kids do these days; full conversations happen by text, rather than the short but important texts adults send back and forth.