I'm sorry Kids These Days bother you so much, but I honestly fail to see how raising a nation of dedicated, capable multitaskers is a bad thing, at least economically. (A friend of mine just wrote a paper about how the nature of online communication reduces social connections between people, &c., so that's a separate issue.)

And besides, at least they're too busy text messaging to hit baseballs into your yard.



-sam
sam | Homepage | 05.20.07 - 10:32 pm | #

The bigger issue, I think, is the one you only touched on at the very end - parents not holding their kids responsible. I was a teenager JUST before the cellphone boom. I'm sure I would've racked up a cellphone bill. Once.
As it was, I racked up an internet bill (back in the days you paid per minute for the time you were logged on via dial up). Once.
After that multi-hundred dollar bill, my parents didn't get pissed. They didn't ground me for a month. They didn't spank me. They simply said that, before I used the internet again, I'd pay them back, in full - either thru deductions from my meager allowance (my choice of the size), payment from money earned for my 10 hour a week job, extra chores, etc.
And guess what? It worked - from there, I paid attention to what I used, and still do to this day; I don't think I've once gone "over" on a cell phone bill more than about $5 worth. There's nothing wrong with sending 7000 texts, or multitasking, or anything else. But if you're going to do that kind of thing, you DAMN well better be responsible for it.
Displaced New Orleanian | 05.21.07 - 12:06 pm | #

I'm glad we invented the word "multitask." Let's pretend it's a new phenomenon and that people haven't been doing it for years - yes let us all understand that it's clearly the next evolutionary step. Doing more than one thing at a time was impossible before the advent of the internet and cell phones.

It is also good that we (well some of us anyway) think that text messaging and talking on the telephone make us either dedicated or capable. I'm also glad we assume that these kids, who show absolutely no sign of awareness of the consequences of their actions or any level of self-restraint, are going to be great, loyal, and capable workers in the future. Way to go kids.
KidHandsome | Homepage | 05.21.07 - 3:14 pm | #

1)I'm not sure how blowing $800 a month on text messages is any worse than blowing it on shoes, or ponies, or drugs. Irresponsible kids and irresponsible parents are irresponsible kids and parents, regardless of how their spendthriftiness is made manifest.

2a)Multitasking isn't new, just easier.
2b)As a member of the GWU class of '07, I firmly feel that the more of those fuckers wasting their time on the net/text messaging, as opposed to weaseling their way into the corridors of power to push ill-conceived and pernicious legislation on the taxpayers, the better.

Also, it's worth keeping in mind that douchebags are douchebags, and the fact that they're now more obvious about it is really only doing other people a service.
sam | Homepage | 05.21.07 - 6:58 pm | #

College is a much different place, you pull that high-school shit, you learn your lesson really fast (either that, or you get your ass kicked). Learn a lesson from me (a college student) and grow the up!
Stephen | 09.04.08 - 9:53 pm | #

I'm a teenager and I have a pay as you go phone. I pay for it, and my parents don't care how much I spend, cause I pay for it. It's the parents fault. And besides, everyone tells kids to "Study hard and get a high paying job". That won't do you any good anymore. So, in the end, it's not the kids, it's the parents.
Tucker | 08.20.09 - 9:31 am | #

I am a teenager, and I dont text or clog up starbucks. Stop condemning a whole age group because of some idiots.
bobby22r | 09.20.09 - 2:24 pm | #