When you have a daughter....

[Blarg]

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Girls (and boys) at that age don't really know where money comes from, so how can you expect them to be responsible for something like that. They know that someone else will eventually pay for it.

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Don't be ridiculous, I had a mobile phone at 14 and was very aware that I'd better not create too large a bill, because while I wouldn't be forced to pay it that month (due to not being able to), I certainly wouldn't get my phone back for a long time. 14 year olds are not 5.

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You are very wrong here.

I've known MANY college girls who run up hundreds of dollars in phone bills a month, sometimes more than a grand. Whether they can afford to do it has little to do with it.

Kids at this age, and sometimes for a lot longer, may swagger a good deal, but in general they are not all that confident, especially because they live in such a bit*chy, high peer-pressure social circle. They feel a strong need to establish and maintain ties, to reassure themselves of their place in their social circle.

Chatting on the phone is an excellent, convenient, and very low pressure way to do it. It's often easier to get to know people better chatting on the phone with them than being face to face, in the same way many people find it much easier to talk about all kinds of things on the internet than they do in person.

Social connections feel especially fragile and vital to kids growing up who don't really know who they are or what they're worth yet. Just like sometimes they screw to find out whether they're lovable, they also yap yap yap.

The real price to be paid for spending huge amounts of time working their social connections is not necessarily either important or determinative for them. They just know what they need emotionally. And not just 14 year olds; 25 year old women can be just like this too.