<p>My children have always high numbers for text messaging but I never really paid much attention since we have unlimited texting with our plan. I recently had a reason to view our account online and was shocked at the number of messages between my son and his girlfriend They attend different schools and apparently texting is their main form of communication - that I can see anyway. Is about 150 to/from messages a day outrageous or normal for kids these days? </p>
<p>(And before anyone asks I wish the number between these two was zero so that may be driving my concerns)</p>
<p>I’d say its fairly normal but given that the bill is the same regardless who cares? If I said it was a high number what could or would you do about it? Let it go…</p>
<p>If you talk to a person on the phone for an hour, how may sentences or phrases will you utter? Since kids today use texts instead of phone calls, this is a reasonable comparison.</p>
<p>Are you concerned more about the number of texts or that so much texting may be taking place during classes with a gf you may not be thrilled with? I ask because one year ago when my son was a freshman, I was concerned about the same thing. He was dating a girl who was exceedingly needy and they texted constantly, at all hours of the day and night. It was very hard to get through (mostly for his parents!), but eventually he was tired of the strain of the relationship and ended it at Christmas break. IMO 150 texts a day is only a lot if it’s interfering with his school work and social life. If that’s not the case, I’d say not to worry about it too much.</p>
<p>Busted. I’m bothered by the girl not the texts. His grades are great. This girl is just too much (in my mind) I’m going crazy trying to keep my mouth shut. What I’d like to do is go to his school, smash the phone into a million little pieces and drive home. Of course, they would just skype or something.</p>
<p>Here’s hoping he eventually gets sick of her.</p>
<p>Hunt, in post #3, makes a good point. An individual text is often just a sentence – maybe a question or the answer to a question. So it’s not really comparable to an email or a phone conversation.</p>
<p>^^tired: lol. Believe me, I feel your frustration. But of course smashing phones will only relieve our stress for about 5 minutes, and probably have the opposite effect that we’d like. One way I got around snapping at him or ‘bad mouthing’ the gf, was talking about relationships in generic terms and talking about my friend’s kid’s BF/GF issues…slanting or ‘embellishing’ certain things to get my point across. If your son’s a freshman, chances are good that by the holidays it will be over. Check out the many threads on Turkey Drop…I know I posted there last year! Hang in there mom.</p>
<p>tired already, S2 is also hovering around 150-200 texts (sent and received) each day with his GF. Since classes only began last week I have no grades to look at, but I really think this process creates an environment of constant interruptions. I really want to suggest that he has at least 2 separate and uninterrupted hours outside of class each day to focus on HIS schoolwork and HIS new friends. </p>
<p>I asked my college senior niece what I should do. She suggested I stay out of it, but mention to him that if he ever needs total quiet he should find a study location with no cell phone service. (like the basement of the physics lab)</p>
<p>S1 had 6000 text messages/month his first few months freshman year. They weren’t mainly to one gf though. I did think it was excessive. I do think texting interrupts them too much. He did respond many texts are just a “k”, etc.</p>
<p>I think part of it was all the new people he was meeting and also that we had just purchased unlimited texting. 4 years later…he hates texting, doesn’t reply to most and only does if it’s an important question. He much prefers getting something accomplished in one “real” conversation, and he’s not all that keen on those!</p>
<p>I don’t understand how any of these kids who are occupied reading and replying to that many interruptions can ever concentrate long enough to learn much or accomplish much. And I include my own in that comment. There are precious few uninterrupted hours if you look at your itemized bill from your kids.</p>
<p>None of that is your worry. We told our kids we would pay for their college as long as they kept their grades at the minimums for their merit scholarships. Then we went about our own business. How they achieved that was up to them. Both were clear that we meant it and would stick to our word. You can’t monitor things like text messages.</p>
<p>Agree that 150 texts/day isn’t that outrageous or unusual. I didn’t worry about D’s prolific texting interfering with her studies, and she hasn’t disappointed me in that regard. What worries me about texting is that it interferes with their social life – the real people in close proximity versus the far-away friends who live inside the phone. It’s hard to get to know a new person at college if you’re being diverted by a text every 30 seconds. And if your nose is buried in your phone as you’re walking across campus, you don’t look receptive to a friendly “Hello” from someone crossing your path. But it’s not going to change; this generation is well and truly hooked on their phones.</p>
<p>I just had a 14 text conversation with my daughter about where to have lunch. It could have been a 3 minute phone call, but she was in a location in which texting was preferable to talking. Many of her texts with friends are similar - where should we go? when do we meet? who’s coming? etc.</p>
<p>150 text messages is about 2-3 minutes of total texting time on average or so, maybe 5 minutes if there is a text that is longer than wt r u doing? :D. How long did you sit on the phone after school with your boyfriend??</p>
<p>I remember many of those “right before curfew” attempts at negotiating where I would get exasperated and text “stop the texting and give me a flippin’ phone call”.</p>
<p>I wondered the same thing, romanigypsyeyes. It’s funny how the things we worry about usually end up resolving themselves . . . although not always, darn it!</p>
certain things to get my point across. If your son’s a freshman, chances are good that by the holidays it will be over. Check out the many threads on Turkey Drop…I know I posted there last year! Hang in there mom.</p>