“How did you exceed your Rs 200 cell phone bill limit this month?” asks Ritu. “I don’t know mum, I barely use my phone,” responds the irked son. Ritu Chugh’s son Shaashwat is all of 15 years old and like most teenagers his age, he is crazy about his cell phone, his Playstation, his Eminem hip-hop music, his Converse shoes and his iPod. And like most teenagers his age, he gets on his mother’s nerves.

Shaashwat is a class X student and lives in Delhi’s plush Greater Kailash locality with his mother who works for an advertising agency. Both mom and son are tech-savvy and love their gadgets. Despite this, Ritu is not exactly happy about Shaashwat owning a cell phone. “The phone he uses at the moment is not even a phone I bought him. In fact, he whacked it from my parents,” she rues.

Shaashwat’s current handset is a Samsung SGH-X210 phone supporting all basic features such as SMS, FM radio and polyphonic ringtones. It cost around Rs 3,000 and Shaashwat laid his hands on this piece about a year ago. Ask her why she doesn’t want to buy him a cell phone yet and you have got her started. “It’s too early for him to own a cell phone though I do believe one needs it to be connected but I don’t think I want to encourage him to succumb to peer pressure and demand fancy handsets.”

Ritu is not the only one who voices concern over a lot of youngsters using cell phones. Shyla Anand, a homemaker from Pune says, “My seventeen-year-old daughter spends a lot of time texting on her phone.” Vrinda is in Class XII and seems to be obsessed about SMS. She has a Nokia 6070, which cost about Rs 4,100 at the time of purchase, two years ago. Her friend in need cell phone has features like FM radio, a VGA camera, infrared and voice recording. “This phone has very limited features but I shall get a new phone once I finish my board exams,” she predicts.

Needless to say Shyla is not very happy with Vrinda’s decision about a new phone.

So why are parents not keen on letting their kids have feature-loaded handsets?

Misusing the cell phone is a concern. A device, which is supposed to keep one, connected all the time seems to be the reason of distress for parents. “Agreed cell phones are useful for keeping in touch and all of that, but you cannot rule out their misuse,” suggests Ritu.

The video recording feature in cell phones, she says, is the reason for worry. “He may use it to download and send porn,” she complains. Also, there have been several media reports claiming the circulation of lewd video clips of students in Delhi.

For Shyla, it is the distraction that comes in the wake of cell phones. “I am fine with minimal usage of the cell phone, but being glued to it is something I don’t approve of,” she informs.

While Vrinda is cautious about her cell phone bill (she has a prepaid connection), Shaashwat is somewhat reckless. “He has a pre-paid connection and I call for an itemised bill every month,” confesses Ritu. Sometimes she also resorts to checking his message inbox in order to ensure there is no reason to worry.

Also Read: Range of Mobile Phones