Whatever works…will there be a time when the technology can’t be taken away because it’s essential to communication?
Parents use ‘digital’ grounding as a 21st century disciplinary tool
By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 5, 2010;
10:23 PM
In a report earlier this year that captured part of the trend, 62 percent of parents said they had taken away a cellphone as punishment, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Only after the teen’s report card arrived, showing a 3.25 average for the quarter, did Carley return her son’s cellphone and restore his Facebook privileges. “It was amazing how much better he did in school because he didn’t have the distraction,” she says.
Not so long ago, teenagers in trouble got grounded. They lost their evenings out, maybe the keys to the family car. But lately the art of family discipline has begun to reflect our digital age.
Now parents seize cellphones, shut down Facebook pages, pull the plug on PlayStation.
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This is one of the stupider ways to try to ground a kid. A friend of my sons' was forbidden to text his girlfriend. They took away the internet and his cellphone, just as though he couldn't use his friends' computers and cellphones to text his girlfriend. Since I'm the only parent who actually seems to hang out with these teenagers, I talked to him repeatedly about how the problem was that he was lying to his parents. Finally, his mom found that he had rigged up his Playstation to get around the communication barrier at home, and she actually *kicked* him out on the street (she just took him back in on Sunday after 10 days). Parents are not logical.
This is one of the stupider ways to try to ground a kid. A friend of my sons' was forbidden to text his girlfriend. They took away the internet and his cellphone, just as though he couldn't use his friends' computers and cellphones to text his girlfriend. Since I'm the only parent who actually seems to hang out with these teenagers, I talked to him repeatedly about how the problem was that he was lying to his parents. Finally, his mom found that he had rigged up his Playstation to get around the communication barrier at home, and she actually kicked him out on the street (she just took him back in on Sunday after 10 days). Parents are not logical.