Buffalo Boy's Blog

There have been many advances in technology over the years, cell phones, computers, HD TV. video games. They all have their positive contributions to our society and then come the negatives.

In the Pioneer school district there have been three cases of teenage girls sending nude or partially nude photos to their male classmates on their cell phones. The girls range in age from 13-16 years old.

Most schools that I have been in have rules against cell phone use. I go to graduate school at Canisius and I wouldn't think of having mine out or even on during my classes. its simply rude to have it on during class.

So, that said, I do not blame the school district for this one. As long as Pioneer has a rule or some sort of policy against cell phone use in their school then the responsibility needs to fall on the parents of these kids.

I am a believer that a kid should not have a cell phone until 1) they can pay for it themselves and/or 2) they need one for work and in that case, either their job should provide one or they can purchase one and pay for it on their own. In school there is absolutely no need for a child to have a cell phone. I don't care if they are 5 or 17 and a senior graduating in June. There is not one reason I can think of that a child needs to have a cell phone especially one with a camera on them in school or anywhere else. 

When I was in school they had phones in the office or these things called pay phones. If I had to get in touch with my parents or family for any reason, I asked permission to go to the office and make a call home. I did that maybe once, and of course I can't even remember when that was. My parents also gave me two quarters to keep inside my swim bag incase something came up at swim practice. We also had a phone on the wall of the pool that dialed out if we had to call home from practice so the quarters were just to rub together.  

Parents feel that their kids are not safe in school, well then move them to a private institution and pay tuition but for all intensive purposes, schools are just as safe now as they were back in the 80's and early 90's and my parents never felt the need to provide us with any alternative means to communicate with them other than the phone sitting in the schools main office.

This is also going to come down to the media and entertainment, they are already blaming the Miley Cyrus pictures which are inappropriate but all it is doing is externalizing and shifting the responsibility to something no one can control. The entertainment world has always been full of those types of things going back to Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Miley Cyrus is no different and they can blame these celebrities all they want but its not getting to the root of the problem.

My whole point here is kids shouldn't have cell phones and any parent who provides their children with one before they enter college or before their son or daughter can pay for one on their own, is asking for the negatives of that technology to comeback to haunt them. I would be willing to argue that with any parent out there who feels otherwise. The parents of these children should be involved in what ever charges if any are being brought up because ultimately they are the ones who put the means into their son's and daughter's hands.