In addition to downloads, text messaging, web surfing and other services, kids (and adults) can find all sorts of entertaining ways to run up huge cell phone bills each month. Also, I hear a lot of complaints from parents about kids talking too much and going over their minute allowances and racking up large extra usage charges.

The primary reason that some parents elect to provide a cell phone to their teenage children is for safety reasons and the ability to call home for a ride, etc. Thus, there's no need for all of these costly bells and whistles. A cell phone need only be set up to place and receive calls.

There's also an important safety issue at stake here when teens get caught up in using cell phones. First, a number of studies have raised concerns about the impact of repeated cell phone usage on the brain and the possible linkage between brain tumors and usage of cell phones held near the side of one's head. Getting teens who talk on the phone a lot to use ear pieces connected to the cell phone is easier said than done. (The Environmental Working Group has done a study rating the radiation produced by different cell phone models.)

A second health concern with cell phone usage is the common occurrence of older teens doing things with their phones while driving. Horrible accidents have happened not only with teens fiddling with their phones while placing and receiving calls but also while typing out text messages and doing other things on the phone (see the U.K. public service announcement aimed to alert teens to this danger). While increasing numbers of states have implemented laws requiring cell phone users to have hand's free devices, few states have any laws dealing with texting and other similar driving distractions.





To deal with going over the minute allowance, examine family plan options that don't limit minutes so strictly. Also, keep in mind if you provide a cell phone to a child, kids don't need to talk on it for hours. Set and enforce some limits!

And, consider this advice from Consumer Reports on prepaid plans: "Check whether you can save with a prepaid service plan from TracFone or Virgin Mobile. The phones for prepaid plans typically cost $20 to $60 and come with no contract obligation. You can pay as little as 10 cents or so a minute for calls, about the same rate as with a 300- to 400-minute-a-month plan, and you pay only for what you use, but you must periodically add money or minutes to your account to keep your service active. If you're a big talker, a 500-plus-minute monthly plan from a major carrier will probably be cheaper. Be careful with prepaid service from major carriers; with some, their minutes can expire, and per-day fees can be significant."

As for dealing with difficult teenagers, here's a story about one such teen who wrote to me after one of my syndicated columns advocated that parents not waste money on extra cell phone services beyond a phone that offers simply the ability to place and receive calls. Here's an excerpt of her note to me followed by my response:

"I'm 13 years old and in the eighth grade. I read your article and I'm terribly sorry to say I completely disagree with you...To be able to call your parents when needed is an emergency, although texting and internet is not, it's a teenage need. What if they simply want to text their friends to ask if they'd like to hang out? These days you just don't call people. And the internet situation, i'm not sure how to explain that but tons and thousands of teens have that on their phone, whether they use it or not, it pretty much comes with every phone you buy. There shouldn't be complaining about that. AT ALL."


I love getting letters like this because it highlights how teenagers think and the challenges parents are up against in containing teenager expectations and spending. Here's an excerpt of my response back to this teen:

I agree that teenagers having a cell phone can be helpful to enable teens and their parents to stay in touch, especially should a change in plans happen or an emergency. That said, teens don't "need" a cell phone - if your family isn't flush with money, perhaps they can't afford it.

I strongly disagree that anyone, especially and including a child, "needs" a cell phone with texting and web browsing services. Yes, I do understand that nearly all cell phones today come with these features, however, and this is an important however, that doesn't mean that you need to activate and subscribe to such services. These services significantly add to the monthly cost of a cell phone and are unnecessary. And, they greatly increase the danger in using cell phones as older teenagers are prone to do while driving.

Food and shelter are necessities. Having texting and Internet services on your cell phone are not necessities - they are luxuries and costly ones at that. I don't pay for such services on my own cell phone and I certainly wouldn't on yours! Teenagers were able to communicate just fine with one another before texting services became available on cell phones. Talk to your friends at school or call them on a regular phone. It's a good thing you weren't born before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone or wouldn't even have had access to that!

Updates:

Check out this recent Orange County Register article about excessive teen texting - note that the average teen texts more than 1,700 times per month - how absurd is that! Besides the dangers created when teens are texting while doing something that requires their full focus (such as driving), what about the cost, the addictive nature of this behavior and this wasted time that teens could be doing something else (e.g. homework, having real conversations with friends, parents, etc.)

Here's another article about an emerging medical problem - cubital tunnel syndrome - that is being caused by holding a cell phone to your ear. This is yet another reason to get a hands free ear piece (which is required in many states when using a cell phone in your call) for your cell phone.

Long-term cell phone users face a higher risk of developing brain tumors later in life, researchers in Britain warn.

The risks were identified in a landmark decade-long study by the World Health Organization, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

A new decade-long study, which surveyed the cell phone habits of people in 13 countries, found a "significantly increased risk" of brain tumors among people who had used cell phones for 10 years or longer.

A Maine panel is considering requiring cell phones to carry a health risk warning, similar to those found on tobacco products.

Copyright Eric Tyson, 2008 - 2010 all rights reserved.

Eric Tyson is the only best-selling personal finance author who has an extensive background as an hourly-based financial advisor and who does not accept speaking fees, endorsement deals or fees of any type from companies in the financial services industry or product or service providers recommended in his articles, books and his publications.