By Associated Press | March 21, 2005
> CHICAGO -- There were two things 11-year-old Patty Wiegner really,
> really, really wanted for Christmas. One was a furry, playful dog
> that's now filling her parents' home with the sound of barking. The
> other gift makes a different kind of noise -- it has a ring tone that
> mimics rapper 50 Cent's hit song 'Candy Shop.'
I'm not sure what I'd be more c> M>> By Associated Press | March 21, 2005
> CHICAGO -- There were two things 11-year-old Patty Wiegner really,
>> really, really wanted for Christmas. One was a furry, playful dog
>> that's now filling her parents' home with the sound of barking. The
>> other gift makes a different kind of noise -- it has a ring tone that
>> mimics rapper 50 Cent's hit song 'Candy Shop.'
> My initial knee-jerk reaction would be to object to kids having cell
> phones. But then I remember my teenage days and it seemed the phone
> was attached to my ear. And in my parents' day, the phones in the
> corner candy stores were quite busy.
> However, this was when I was in high school, not elementary school.
> I'm not so thrilled about the idea of "tweens" or younger kids having
> cell phones. (A friend gave his 9-year-old one last Christmas.)
> Of course, these days kids are far more isolated than we were. We
> were in the city or more built-up suburbs where there were plenty of
> friends within walking distance. Today kids have to be driven to
> practically any kind of activity otherwise they're isolated. (Also
> parents want more control over their kids than ours did.)
That is what we get for fleeing the urban core cities. The costs of that are coming back in spades.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are lots of things wrong with the urban core, inner city. I am sorry you feel that those of us who wanted something better in life did what you call 'fleeing'. I know you would _never_ get me back to Chicago for example. PAT]