Question on IM's

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-06-2005
Question on IM's
3
Fri, 03-03-2006 - 11:50am
SS (14) , has cell phone, and girlfriend. He pays for his minutes himself. I looked online at his cell phone use. Wed night 60+ IM's from after school until 9 pm, thur night 90+ IM's from 3pm - 8pm. We assume he is texting his G/f , but the web site doesn't show who texting. He will want to put more money on his account tonite,(b-day $$) , he has went through $30 in a week.
1) should we try to taper him or let him run out of money.
2) we do not know if GF is prepaid , or on parents plan, should we let them KNOW in case she is racking up a big bill for them?
TIA for advice , input on the whole IM is more private than family phone situation.k-
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-15-2006
Fri, 03-03-2006 - 3:15pm
If you tell the g/f's parents, then they might be able to help monitor the situation with you. I know that cell phones can get really expensive. My DD (13) can easily go through $30 in a week on her prepaid plan. We go back and forth on how to deal with it. I don't want her to ever be completly out of minutes because that is how I keep in touch with her during after school extra-curricular activities, the skating rink, etc. and know when to pick her up. She takes advantage. I have told her recently that if she squanders the minutes that she won't be able to go anywhere but school, because I don't want her away without a working phone. Good luck.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-1999
Fri, 03-03-2006 - 6:18pm

My DD is on a pre-paid plan that gives her so many minutes a month, then the phone shuts down.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-24-2005
Mon, 03-06-2006 - 10:06am
Hello Kay. This is a little late, but it sounds like you are more concerned with the amount of contact that SS is having with GF, not how many minutes he's using on his phone? If that's the case, I agree with you. If they are in school together, they already see each other daily, and excessive contact outside of school may begin to isolate him from his other friends (male or female) or interests. If you have rules regarding IM's on the computer they should apply to the phone as well, regardless of who pays. If cell phone cost is the problem, then get him a regular phone with unlimited texting which would be much cheaper than a prepaid phone.
Hope I got more to your point. -Joe