Losing the Leash and Embracing the Tether

In the chapter "Growing up Tethered" from her book Alone Together, Sherry Turkle discusses how tied, and even dependent, teenagers are on their favorite technological device - their cellphone. Under the heading "Degrees of Separation", Turkle discusses the contract parents pair with the 'gift' of a phone to teens; "the gift typically comes with a contract: children are expected to answer their parent's calls." It is a way for the parents to maintain some control while setting their kids loose in the big-wide-world. But, this is not always followed by teens. In fact, some teens ignoring the contract (not answering their parents calls) is seen as a way to show independence.

In "Teens rule mobile Web, parents play catch-up", Katie Humphrey looks at a different aspect of the cellphone, more specifically smartphone, invasion - privacy. Humphrey outlines how parents are struggling to find a balance to both keep their teens connected (to them and the outside world) but also keep a leash on their time and where teens are going on the internet. For teens the smartphone is a catch-all for all their tech needs. Using their smartphone a teen "texts, talks, posts to Instagram and Facebook, plays word games, even tracks practical stuff like schedules." But for parents it is a screen they can't see and time they can't monitor and that makes them uncomfortable. “It can be a great tool and it can also be a really scary thing for a parent,” Postuma said. “We are learning and figuring this out as we go.” Postuma is a parent who recognizes the usefulness and practical application but struggles to fit it into her parenting schema.

The article shows another aspect of the parent-teen phone contract that is still in the draft stage. While the answering aspect from Turkle most likely still stands, parents are struggling how to incorporate this next issue into their contract. Will parents let go of the leash and learn to embrace the tether? Moving forward, parents and teens alike will be watching, waiting and negotiating to see how this new element gets inked in the contract.