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The Tween Swag

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Girls on phones.

Money, money, money, must be funny in a rich man’s world! Excuse me for quoting the lyrics of the song but they were apt for the topic in discussion. Ever wondered why only the “It-Gang” in school had all the cool gadgetry while you were still fussing with your parents as to how you deserved an I-Pod let alone a mobile phone (and yes I’m talking about the lay student only of 6th grade!)? Don’t judge me; I’m not talking about high school students because by 12th standard even the have-me-not becomes the Ms.-hoity-toity; I’m talking about those students who probably won’t even know the definition let alone the spelling of puberty. To the world’s astonishment, these pre-teens or more popularly known as TWEENS have I-Phones and what not’s at their beck-and-call while some adults still use the Nokia 1100! Who do we blame? Technology? Money? Over-indulgent-yet-oblivious parents? Peer pressure? The idiot-box? Who? Who? Who? Who indeed?!? Letting go of the gadget topic, what could these saplings possibly know about relationships? But, no! I was wrong, they know everything (it’s scary, really).

According to a popular survey found nearly six out of 10 parents with tweens (56 percent) have provided their child with a cell phone, and this ranges between 62 percent in households of more than $100,000 annual income and 41 percent of $50,000 annual income. When it comes to getting their phone for the first time, 60 percent received their phone at 10 to 11, 15 percent got it at 12 and 20 percent were 8 to 9 years old. The majority of parents (84 percent) bought their child a cell phone for safety reasons, 73 percent said to track after school activities and 16 percent reported because their child asked for one. When it comes to cost, 82 percent of parents said this was the determining factor in deciding which cell phone provider to use. In addition, more than half of the parents (52 percent) would consider switching cell phone services if they felt they were paying too much.

 

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When my batch was in 6th grade (now in 2nd yr college) we couldn’t get enough of pulling each other’s hair, running up to the teachers like little tattle tails or getting disgusted at the slightest mention of even sitting with the opposite sex in class! We never had phones or laptops- a family computer, yes-but neither were we taken on exotic holidays nor did we have our own chauffeur driven cars {Hey! Don’t get me wrong! We weren’t poor miserable things living in a one-room apartment without a warm cloth on our backs! We just weren’t indulged in so much, our parents showered themselves with all the cool stuff. According to their thoughts; it wasn’t the right age for us}. Sometimes I feel, what losers we must have been, so deprived of worldly things et al, but now looking back, I feel that somehow, down the line we are more privileged, more tolerant and lesser prone to disappointments if nothing goes our way. Tantrums and emotional black mailings were driven out of us (more like thrashed out of us) by the strict hand of our parents who didn’t want to leave wusses in the world (feeling super-powered: Check!)

These TWEENS, to tell the truth, are so full of swag that we might as well get a big bright capital ‘L’ engraved on our foreheads…Exaggerating much? Well, yes… couldn’t help the sarcastic jibe. I hope I’m not the only one with this view in mind, do share your thoughts in the comment box below and let us know.

 

 

 

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