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SMS Text Messaging & Youth Debt One

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the american-kids-really-do-suck-at-math dept.

securitas writes "The New York Times' Lisa W. Foderaro reports on the impact of SMS text messaging and resulting debt on America's youth. The predictable but seldom-considered effect of the recently available technology combined with the social role instant messaging and SMS play are leading to bills that youth and parents alike can't afford. 'Many high school and college students accustomed to sending unlimited instant messages on their computers do not adapt easily to text messaging's pay-per-message format, and end up with unexpectedly high bills' ranging from $300 to $800 per month. One school principal says that 'many students were blindsided by costs associated with text-messaging and other features, like customized ring tones"

13 of 471 comments (clear)

  1. Responsibility by AlexTheBeast · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wah, wah, wah.

    You could say the same thing for cell phones in general.

    I had to "work-off" my long distance phone bills in the BBS days...

    You set the limits as a parent... and if the kid goes over it, he/she pays.

    It's called growing up.

    1. Re:Responsibility by beagle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yup. I mean - oh, the horror of learning that things in life really aren't free!

      This is a story?

      PS - there was an article in the local paper recently about how "the fees add up fast." Indeed they do, and this is why I don't have many of these monthly-fee services.

  2. Shocking truth by DaKritter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Commercial services may cost money!

    Shock horror.

    1. Re:Shocking truth by ahknight · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not even that, it's that they're using it wrong, too. For instance, with Sprint I can pay $10/mo. and get unlimited SMS messages. For $10. Screw this $800 crap, with just a little planning and a little forethought they wouldn't pay more than $60 a month for the whole package.

      It's just another sign that people are stupid.

    2. Re:Shocking truth by penguinoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Commercial services may cost money!

      Wrong. Or did you mean to say, "Commercial services may be expensive." It may be splitting hairs, but sending SMS messages costs almost nothing but is grossly overpriced. For no reason other than that it is usefull enough that people will pay anyways. Ahh, the free market at its best!

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  3. one simple solution by kraut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pay as you go phones. Pay for the credit upfront, and when it's used up, you stop until you can buy more from your pocket money.

    --
    no taxation without representation!
    1. Re:one simple solution by Seumas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm 27 and I don't own a cell phone. I never have. I've only used one a few times. I'm a software engineer for a big corporation required to provide 24x7 responses. To that end, I wear a $10/mo company-paid two-way pager.

      Carrying a cell-phone around strikes me as needless baggage and excessive availability. I prefer not to have to be reachable by every human being on earth every moment of every day. I'd like to consider my time sipping a coffee and reading the paper in the local cafe on a Saturday morning as _my_ time. Nobody should ever need to reach me so urgently that I need to carry a device that would permit disruption of that.

      I understand why UPS drivers need a cell. I understand why cab-drivers need to. I can even understand why a CEO or an IT manager might. But beyond that, it's just a frivolous toy. Children managed to keep in touch with their parents and let them know where they were and what htey were doing for decades prior to this without posessing cell phones.

      If I had a child, I can't imagine them providing any viable excuse as to why I should purchase a cell phone for them and pay the bill. And as their parent, I would not let them get one and pay for it themselves for the simple fact that I want to avoid them putting themselves into debt before even seeking out college loans a few years down the road.

      Why six year olds and fifteen year olds are carrying them around like a house-key is beyond me.

    2. Re:one simple solution by zakezuke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If I had a child, I can't imagine them providing any viable excuse as to why I should purchase a cell phone for them and pay the bill

      1. Payphones are not everywhere anymore. Even when I was in school there was only one payphone on campus for grades 7-12. Now there is none.
      2. Collect calls cost an arm and a leg. After getting a few "come pick me up" calls I was in awe.
      3. Calling cards don't always work in payphones.
      4. You can often get a family plan with unlimited airtime between family phones.
      5. Safety

      I'm not saying that getting a cellphone for a kid is the right choice. But there are good reasons why one may consider it. I went with a pre-paid phone for my nieces. "Come pick me up" cost 25-55cents and there was no chance in hell there would be a charge above and beyond what was pre-paid.

      --
      There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
  4. In A Related Story... by da3dAlus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Makes me think of this one: "Economic Woes and Dismal Math/Science Scores: Related Deficits?"
    To be blunt, it really makes me think that most of America's youth is too stupid to know that X messages @ $0.yy ea = $lots'ocash.

    --

    Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
  5. Pay to recieve SMS? by MPHellwig · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So , if understand this correctly,in the US you have to pay for sms you send and recieve,even without knowing that you wanted to recieve that message?
    Do you guys also have to pay for recieving post (with a stamp)?

  6. People are stupid by BenjyD · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Isn't this just more evidence that most people are a bit daft when it comes to money? If they're not actually paying for it there and then with cash, most people find it hard to think of it as real money.

    It's just like those idiots who get the cheap introductory offers from companies like 3 and think "ooh, I'm getting a good deal" , but don't look up how much the normal monthly tariff is. It often doubles from £15 to £30 after three months or something, with a one year minimum.

  7. Re:How much do you pay for SMS by MaynardJanKeymeulen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What I found the strangest thing in the article,
    is that one has to pay for recieving messages.
    Here in Belgium, you only have to pay for sending, mostly about 0.13 (about $0.10 or less)
    It's not like you have to pay to recieve a phonecall or something, or am I mistaking?

    --
    "The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck is the day they make a vacuum cleaner."
  8. Re:How much do you pay for SMS by wing03 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pay to receive?

    So cell phone SPAM also incurrs a charge?

    Yeesh!

    We pay corporations to wear the clothes they make in sweat shops so we can display their logos.

    We get increases in ticket prices to go see movies which have become chock full of placed products that advertisers pay the studios to put in.

    Now, we pay the cell phone companies every time an advertiser sends us an SMS ad?!?!

    WTF?!?!

    Next time someone sings the praises of the capitalist free world, I'll be sure to shovel all that back to them and remind them how great it is that big business can freely make us pay through our noses!