My son has a flip phone. He uses his laptop for email and so forth, and can text on the flip phone. He seems surprisingly low key about having a smart phone (which is why he doesn’t already). However, I assume in college every single other person will have a smart phone and that he will need one for … something. But I also wonder if having a tablet, in addition to his PC (and his flip phone) is actually sufficient. His college obviously has wireless everywhere on campus.
What do other people think? Is it possible that a smart phone is not really necessary?
A few do manage with flip-phones, but it would help to have a smartphone. The kids I know who started college without a smartphone (including my S) switched pretty quickly.
First there is a lot of texting among friends which is much easier with a smartphone.
Second, it is easier to stay connected and for better or worse, everyone seems to expect you will be connected. One example is that one morning I got a panicked call from my S on his first day of class freshman year – nobody was in the room he expected a class to be held – he talked me through how to log onto to the college’s system on my computer and lo and behold he got an email from the professor a couple of hours earlier saying the class had been moved – by the time the email was sent, my S already left his room for breakfast and an earlier class – if he had a smartphone he would have got the email. The prof. was wrong in assuming everyone would get the email and certainly someone should have posted a note on the door of the original classroom with the change but nonetheless my S would have been stranded if I wasn’t home to look it up. We switched him over to to a smartphone on his first visit home.
DD has a prepaid phone where she can text. She doesn’t have a data plan. She carries in her backpack a kindle tablet which she uses to check mail and messages and uses for internet access. Eventually she will get a smartphone. The good thing is she isn’t obsessed with texting.
I’d upgrade, honestly. I had a flip phone until about 2 years ago, but having a smartphone (or a samsung, or what have you) really is approaching a necessity these days. Most of my students have them and they come from largely “underprivileged” backgrounds.
Smartphone cost is almost entirely in the monthly service. Checkout www.republicwireless.com for really cheap plans which are great for students who live in wifi land.
If your son already has a tablet and he is staying mainly on campus, I say let him try with just the flip phone and tablet for the first semester. It’ll become clear whether or not he needs a smart phone.
Texting is communicating so being “obsessed with texting” is not inherently bad IMO. Yes, it’s good to be here now and not be buried in your phone to the exclusion of the people and life going on around you but the ability to send and receive messages in real time ads to connectivity if used responsibly.
Honestly, I think it’s pretty close to a necessity these days. The convenience can’t be beat on so many dimensions - not even texting, but maps, apps that a college has, instantaneous access to email, etc.
Times change. It wasn’t a necessity in our day to have a computer or even an answering machine on our land-line, was it?
Can’t imagine not having a smartphone for college. Student will likely carry phone always…tablet or laptop not always. If student needs a document right away or needs to do quick research…the smartphone will be best all around tool for college.
2007: freshmen I knew were bringing bulky desktop computers, TVs and printers to college.
2009: my own freshman brought a laptop that ended up being too big to easily haul around as much as he would have liked. He upgraded his phone to a smart phone that year. The phone became essential, as professors and the university administration moved to sending tweets to update students on the fly. He never once used his own printer. The people who brought TVs were the people who also brought their game systems. Their rooms were full of gamers all the time.
2011: my freshman brought a much smaller, very portable laptop and a smartphone. Brought a printer, which he never used. The smart phone was essential. Nobody brought TVs.
2015: my freshman will bring a very small, portable laptop and a smart phone. Don’t think we’ll even bother to send a printer with her.
The college “essentials” are changing so rapidly, that you should seek the advice of people who are presently students. My kids (and my husband and I) handle banking, email, social media (which is how many college administrators and professors communicate), etc. on our phones. A non smart phone would be quite handicapping at this point in our lives.
OT–but seems to fit here: at the school where I teach, the leading reason for a student to be late for class or turn in a paper late is “long lines at the printers.” So if not sending a printer, please tell them to be mindful of this and plan ahead. It has become the “dog ate my homework” of the 21st century, and I have limited sympathy.
Having a smartphone is not the same thing as having a data service plan. Without the data service plan, u can still use a smart phone to make calls or text msgs w a basic voice/text service plan, then use free campus wifi for internet service.