Uh-oh...someone's in trouble...

[germdoc]

I would have like to have been there when Dad got the bill. Bet he remembered some of his vocabulary from the Navy...

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle...3aPc:_Yyc:aUUT

Another problem solved by that common tool, the hammer!

[crokett]

20k messages in a month is 1 message every 2 minutes, all day, every day. Exluding approximately 1/3 of that time for sleep, then it is a message every minute and 45 seconds all day, every day. That is insane.

[footprintsinconc]

so that means, if the hammer can solve cell phone bill problems, then i wonder what other bill it can help solve....

[Greg in Maryland]

20k messages in a month is 1 message every 2 minutes, all day, every day. Exluding approximately 1/3 of that time for sleep, then it is a message every minute and 45 seconds all day, every day. That is insane.

At some point, don't you think that the parents would have noticed that their daughter was obsessed with the phone and inquired? They must not be too involved in their kid's life to miss this type of activity.

greg

[cgallery]

At least it can't get you pregnant.

[Wood_workur]

At least it can't get you pregnant.

well duh, cell phones kill the man's seed...

[vaking]

I agree that a kid getting 20000 messages a month should have caught parents' attention, but I also think Verizon is at fault as well. I believe that a service a parent have not signed up for should be unavailable. Instead of that the service is available but expensive. Think of it this way - if I don't have enough money in the bank when check comes in - the check bounces. If I want I can get an overdraft protection but I have to sign up for it and it is usually a small amount. The same Verizon allows parents to control what movies their kids are watching but it does not allow parents to limit services available on their cell phones. Surely it is much more profitable for Verizon to allow text messages in all cases and to charge more if parents did not sign up for the plan. This is clearly pocket-book driven policy for the carrier.

[Rand]

If you don't have the texting plan Verizon charges 20 cents for each text you receive, not just send. I can see how a bunch of teenage girls could easily run up that bill.

[Ed62]

What else is a kid that age supposed to do? Maybe we should bring back the 40s and 50s, and give them tin cans and a piece of string.

Ed

[Kristofor]

At least it can't get you pregnant.

No, but it can put kids on the registered sex offender list for life... There are lots of stories lately about kids sending pics of themselves and then the sender or recipient getting hit with kiddie porn prosecution.

A couple articles mentioned that lots of states have similar laws regarding sexually explicit conversations (or texting) with minors and likewise do not have exemptions for other minors. So it's probably just a matter of time before some 17yr old ends up in court for that too.

Regardless of if your kid is on a cheapie plan or the top-tier one, you might want to take notice that they're constantly on the phone or texting...

Of course this is from a geek who barely uses 100 minutes per month but does have several hundred text messages and 1000+ emails.

[germdoc]

I would have busted my teenager after 18,000 messages...

[jackellis]

What the he** is a text message anyway

If I want to send messages people can actually read, I use e-mail.

[Russianwolf]

No, but it can put kids on the registered sex offender list for life... There are lots of stories lately about kids sending pics of themselves and then the sender or recipient getting hit with kiddie porn prosecution.

A couple articles mentioned that lots of states have similar laws regarding sexually explicit conversations (or texting) with minors and likewise do not have exemptions for other minors. So it's probably just a matter of time before some 17yr old ends up in court for that too.

Regardless of if your kid is on a cheapie plan or the top-tier one, you might want to take notice that they're constantly on the phone or texting...

Of course this is from a geek who barely uses 100 minutes per month but does have several hundred text messages and 1000+ emails.

And in some cases the sender (even if the picture is of themself) is being charged with distribution of child porn.