Link: For Texting Teens, an OMG Moment When the Phone Bill Arrives – washingtonpost.com
Sofia Rubenstein, 17, got in trouble the way a lot of teens do these days.
Last month the Washington high school junior used 6,807 text messages, which, at a rate of 15 cents apiece for most of them, pushed the family’s Verizon Wireless bill to more than $1,100 for the month. Sofia knew she’d been texting a lot but couldn’t believe the “incredible” number she hit. “I just thought, oh my God, my life is over,” she said.
That’s a lot of text.. and a lot of $$ for a kid to rack up just on texts alone. How did she manage it? Apparently her plan only gave her 100 inclusive texts each month. Hmm, time to change the plan? Or perhaps her parents should just stop paying her phone bills 🙂
There’s such a huge gap between her allocated 100 text messages and the ridiculous amount of texts she actually used. No 17 year old is naive enough not to realise it’ll add up to an expensive bill, so the parents should leave it up to her to cover the costs.
As an aside, who has the TIME to send nearly 7000 text messages in a month? Her thumbs must be crooked, and a bad case of RSI has got to be looming around the corner.
OOooo believe me, as the owner of a 14 year old male of the species, it is all too possible for them to text and send as fast as they could ordinarily hold a conversation.
My spawn has run up bills of £600 above his fruit based phone plan on texts and calls.
Fortunately, I marched him to the nearest bank and _he_ paid.
That usually teaches ’em.
I think most of these kids, and their parents, need to be introduced to TxtDrop 🙂