AUTHOR: Dave Sypniewski DATE: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 ----- BODY: With back to school time just a few weeks away, it's time to pick up all the "must haves" for the kids at the local Target. This year however, it's not a contest to see who has the coolest notebooks and folders in class, it's all about the phone. That's right. What started with high schoolers has now trickled down to 7 and 8 year olds and speaking of Target, cell phone service providers are catching on and targeting the little brat(z) with new phones that feature Barbie and Spiderman and whatever else is out there now. My how times have changed in the last 30 years! When I was in school and you got caught with a yo-yo, rubber ball, or even a calculator, these things were quickly snatched up by the teacher and thrown in her desk to never be seen again until perhaps the end of the school year. So what's the poor teacher supposed to do now? Well, some schools across the country are smart by banning cell phone use. Others will even suspend the kid for even carrying a phone into the school period! As a matter of fact, I don't know of any school district that actually encourages you to go out and purchase a phone for your child. A commercial for Verizon shows a woman telling her kids that now that they're getting older and starting high school, that she's giving them phones so they can "check in on them." Hey, they're in school. There's no reason to check up on them! Some parents think the phones are a good thing anyway for emergencys. Suppose a gunman enters the school and starts firing shots. Who will call 911? The fact is, most classrooms have phones installed in the room anyway...no need for a cell. Back in the day, if a weirdo walked into the school and you needed to call the cops, you had to high tail it down to the end of the hallway, dig in your pocket for a quarter, and dial the 7 digit number to the police station using the pay phone that Ma Bell provided as a service! This opens up a whole can of worms. What exactly is considered an "emergency?" A shooting spree? a fire? checking e-mail? Playing Tetris? Surfing the net for answers to the test you're working on? This adds yet another zippered pocket to the already crowded backpack. There's already compartments there for bottled water, CD's/DVD's, MP3 players and IPods. It's getting to the point where there's no room for the main purpose of the backpack: the books. Now I know that first grader's aren't going to use up the minutes at school making drug deals and recruiting gang members, but a cell phone at that age is nutso! It's a good thing I'm not a teacher facing this problem because the minute I heard a "jingle-lingle-ling", I'd take the phone right away and put it in my desk. At the end of the day I would call Austrialia, Japan, and France just to see how the weather is and to teach those parents who spoil their kids like that a lesson...the number you have dialed has been disconnected. THAT'S the way I see it. Dial "o" for outta here! -------- Squealing Pig WORLDWIDE!: Dial "M" for Mommy!

Squealing Pig WORLDWIDE!

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Dial "M" for Mommy!

With back to school time just a few weeks away, it's time to pick up all the "must haves" for the kids at the local Target. This year however, it's not a contest to see who has the coolest notebooks and folders in class, it's all about the phone. That's right. What started with high schoolers has now trickled down to 7 and 8 year olds and speaking of Target, cell phone service providers are catching on and targeting the little brat(z) with new phones that feature Barbie and Spiderman and whatever else is out there now. My how times have changed in the last 30 years! When I was in school and you got caught with a yo-yo, rubber ball, or even a calculator, these things were quickly snatched up by the teacher and thrown in her desk to never be seen again until perhaps the end of the school year. So what's the poor teacher supposed to do now? Well, some schools across the country are smart by banning cell phone use. Others will even suspend the kid for even carrying a phone into the school period! As a matter of fact, I don't know of any school district that actually encourages you to go out and purchase a phone for your child. A commercial for Verizon shows a woman telling her kids that now that they're getting older and starting high school, that she's giving them phones so they can "check in on them." Hey, they're in school. There's no reason to check up on them! Some parents think the phones are a good thing anyway for emergencys. Suppose a gunman enters the school and starts firing shots. Who will call 911? The fact is, most classrooms have phones installed in the room anyway...no need for a cell. Back in the day, if a weirdo walked into the school and you needed to call the cops, you had to high tail it down to the end of the hallway, dig in your pocket for a quarter, and dial the 7 digit number to the police station using the pay phone that Ma Bell provided as a service! This opens up a whole can of worms. What exactly is considered an "emergency?" A shooting spree? a fire? checking e-mail? Playing Tetris? Surfing the net for answers to the test you're working on? This adds yet another zippered pocket to the already crowded backpack. There's already compartments there for bottled water, CD's/DVD's, MP3 players and IPods. It's getting to the point where there's no room for the main purpose of the backpack: the books. Now I know that first grader's aren't going to use up the minutes at school making drug deals and recruiting gang members, but a cell phone at that age is nutso! It's a good thing I'm not a teacher facing this problem because the minute I heard a "jingle-lingle-ling", I'd take the phone right away and put it in my desk. At the end of the day I would call Austrialia, Japan, and France just to see how the weather is and to teach those parents who spoil their kids like that a lesson...the number you have dialed has been disconnected. THAT'S the way I see it. Dial "o" for outta here!

posted by Dave Sypniewski at Wednesday, August 17, 2005

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