10 Commandments for Phone Usage – Teens
- Thou shalt not lose track of your phone.
- Thou shalt not text at the dinner table (or text your mother from upstairs to bring you water!)
- Thou shalt not use the phone to avoid tough conversations in person…don’t break up via text…bad form!
- Thou shalt not ever, ever text and drive (and texting while walking is tricky too!)
- Thou shalt not sleep with the phone next to your head (unless you want to glow in the dark!)
- Thou shalt not keep the phone on at night…you need to re-charge your batteries too sans the phone going off all night!
- Thou shalt not ever NOT answer the phone when Mom/Dad call – we’re totally GPS’in you!
- Thou shalt not subject others to your “uncomfortable”, and/or inappropriate conversations…if they cannot escape – you need to leave.
- Thou shalt not allow your phone to “die” – keep it charged!
- 10.Thou shalt not text when you are angry, in the bathroom or in your birthday suit! This includes pictures of the same. A snapshot is but a moment, but a screenshot can haunt you forever! And yes…a snapshot can become a screenshot…
Finally, words have power…especially words that are communicated without emotion as in a text. 93% of communication is non-verbal…so words can be easily misinterpreted when not presented in person. Choose carefully what you say. Because you cannot “untext” what you have said.