well, FYI my grades are still very good considering that i dont text in school. im not allowed. so thats just the day out of school.

And my boyfriend teases me that I text too much.

Seriously.

There is NOT that much to say that can't wait until you are face to face, since I assume your texting your friends at school.

Its amazing that I'm still so young and yet have my mind blown away by the teenagers these days.

I hate talking on the phone too, I'd much rather text.

HOW? I would rather text than talk, too, and while my husband and I are working we text back and forth throughout the day and still don't rack up 100, so I don't see HOW you can POSSIBLY text 700-800 per day?!

Yeah that was my thought. Before I moved in with my boyfriend, we lived about 1 1/2 hours apart, but we had the same work schedule. So from about 10 pm to 6 am it was constant texting. :-)

And I don't think I got 100 in a day either. The ONLY times I've ever gotten anywhere near that much *and actually, may have broken the 100 mark* was if something BIG happened, and I sent out a mass text *which ends up being about 10 people* and end up having conversations with most or all of the people I sent the text to.

Like, I think when I got laid off, I probably broke 100 texts. Or got close. But i was talking to like, three sisters, 4 bloopies, my landlady, my best friends.. etc. :-)

That kind of mad texting RARELY happens.

and i do in fact have an unlimited texting feature on for my phone. so i guess texting really wouldnt be a big deal for me.

I got my first mobile when I was eleven. I get the feeling there's quite a culture difference in the UK to the US - a thirteen year old without a phone would seem odd to me.

On the other hand, I think massive kudos to her for being sorry. I think when you're that age it's hard to appreciate the value of money, or to think about bills as such. To hear that you've spent four thousand dollars must have been pretty shocking. Up until I was about fourteen I was always on pay as you go, which meant my mum had absolute control over how much I spent.

There was one month where I used my phone more than I usually did, and accrued a large bill, which my mum had a stern word with me about. After that I was always more careful.

I have to say it's also a credit to the company that they're not being unreasonable about it.

Texts certainly have their place - it's a lot easier to organise a large number of people getting together that way, which is quite a regular occurence at that sort of age.

I'm guessing you're English since you said mum?

See I am too and I still think a 13 year old with a phone is ridiculous!

Hmmm, could be a generational or class thing? I come from a working class area and at fourteen we were went out every Friday night to drink in the parks and underpasses and stuff. As such the need for a phone becomes more poignant. I was a late starter with this, too - we were the good kids. The bad kids were doing this from about eleven/twelvish.

Twenty-one here, so I was a young teenager when mobiles first started to become mainstream.

Ahh possibly, I come from a very middle class area and we were always allowed to have parties with alcohol from a young age so never felt the need to go and sit in parks etc, therefore no need for mobiles! Also we live in a rural area so the only form of public transport is the train which stops running at 8.30 so again we'd be around our parents a lot, because we couldn't go anywhere or we'd have to rely on them for lifts.
I'm 21 too.

I think the fact that if she KNEW there was no texting plan and still texted is just ridiculous. But, I'll just give the benefit of the doubt of knowing.

As for me, I got my first phone when I was 13, it was a pay as you go thing, and didn't last long. [A month, maybe.] My next cell was at 16 and it was still a pay as you go phone, that I only got because I was traveling 7 hours away with my sister and her husband and they didn't have a phone yet because they had just moved into their apartment. That one lasted maybe three months or so because I'd always text and be out of minutes. When I was 17 I got my first contract phone for Christmas. We have unlimited texting so there is no issue with overages [thank God. My mom and I text a LOT.]

The most texts I've sent though, I really don't know. According to Verizon online I have sent/received [an estimate!] 3, 451 texts. :|

wow, i'm pretty sure i wouldn't see the light of day if i charged up over $4,000 dollars on a cell phone bill. didn't the girl realize that she didn't have unlimited texting, and obviously you shouldn't text if your parents try to get the texting feature TURNED OFF on your phone. i'm 16, I didn't get my first phone til i was 13 and that was because I played basketball for my school, and I had to call my mom after away games to pick me up from the bus drop-off.

it was a pay as you go, and i had that for about two years before i got a plan. even then, i've only had unlimited texting for less than a year. depending on who i talk to, i can have from 3,000-6,000 texts a month. i mostly text at night, when i can't be on the phone. and i don't like calling because then i feel obligated to keep the convo up, unlike texting where i can just not respond. plus it would be odd if i was in a room of people and just whipped out my phone to call people, i can just text them discreatly. but yeah, thats absolutely ridiculous. what the hell could she have talked about with her friends? lol

I did this to my parents... but I was 16, and if I recall correctly it was only about $300-400 extra on the bill. I believe it was at 10 cents a text, so that's what... 4000 texts, a little over 100 a day? I don't think that's an unbelievable amount, considering the texts kids send back and forth like "lol" or "yeah" or a series of "ok" "yeah" "uh huh".... you know, kids being kids. Sure I was texting during class, and of course to us big texters it's ridiculous to think you're actually looking at your phone the whole time... but... *shrug* I don't know. Kids don't know the meaning of responsibility, nor the actual value of money, ESPECIALLY a kid that's getting a cell phone at 13. Parents need to think before doing that stuff. Like everyone else says, make the kid pay for their own phone, or get a pay-as-you-go, or disable the texting features. If parents are going to get their kids "in the now" by giving them a cell at 13, they need to live "in the now" and realize this stuff happens.

That's still insanely ridiculous.

I MIGHT be able to reach 4,000 texts in a year.

I mean, I get what you're saying about the filler texts, and I actually hadn't thought of that. But still. 4,000 texts?

Yes, 4000 texts. Some people use them more than others. I was just trying to say if you're giving a 13 year old a cell phone.... be realistic.

what the fuck do you have to say in that many texts? seriously? she's probably texting people at school. can she not wait an hour to see them and tell them shit in person? that's insane.

i didn't get a phone till i was 15, and that was only because i started going out independently and my parents wanted me to be able to call them if i needed help and also for them to check on me if needed. if i ever ran a bill up that high my dad would've screamed my face off and made me pay the bill.

I just don't see how a 13 year old could have so much to say!!! It's retarded!

I was 14 when I got my first phone, and it was just my dads old phone with a prepaid sim card in it. I had it because I travelled 70km on the train to and from school and my parents wanted me to have it in case of emergencies. Prepaid meant I couldn't go over! And my parents NEVER agreed to sign a contract for me. They paid my prepaid till I was 16, and that was about 30 bucks every 3 months if that. When I was 18 I signed for my own contract.

I got my cell phone when I was 15 or 16 cause that's when I started taking the city bus to and from school daily and started being more active with school and friends so my parents wanted me to have it just in case. I was 18 before I started texting (I'm on a family plan) and I always made sure to stay below my limit. It was just within the last year that I got unlimited text and now I text a lot. I hate talkin on the phone, I prefer texting so that's what I do now mostly. I dunno how much I send in a month, I don't pay much attention anymore.

I work in a day care and am floored with how many 9, 10, and 11 year olds have cell phones.

I got my phone when I was 11, and I am now 15. I send and recieve anywhere from 11,000 to 14,000 messages a month. However my phone is off all day at school because my mom calls it to make sure ;), and my grades are A. Most teenager send and recieve about 10,000 if they have unlimited text.

I have unlimited text messaging and I probably send well over 10,000 text messages a month.
Of course I'm 19, and pay my own phone bill.

My first cell phone was a Trac fone (for those of you UK folks, it's a pay as you go phone) and I was 15-16 at the time.

HAH! I forgot about Trac phones! I asked my mom for a cell phone when I was 12 or 13 and she told me no (with good reason) so my dad, being "that" person (they were divorced), got me one for Christmas. He never bought me minutes or set it up and my Mom had already told me no, so it just sat there and never once worked! :P

I had a cell phone at 14. Reason being I went to school in a town 25 minutes away and my parents wanted to make sure that I could get ahold of them if need be.

Don't lie, you were whoring around....WITH ME!

Hahahahahahaha.

Woah! How can you guys text so much? I get 300 free texts a month and am lucky if I use that!

Personally I text a lot because I like to be able to send a question or reminder without having to bother someone with a phone call, especially if I am afraid I will forget to do so later. I like the convenience of telling someone something without feeling like I might be interrupting whatever they are doing with a phone call. Most of my friends are on varying schedules so we rarely get a chance where both our schedules will allow a phone call. Multiple conversations at once- also a plus. Of course if it's a serious conversation it merits a phone call.

When I got my first cell phone 'on my own,' it was cheaper for me to buy an unlimited text plan than to pay for lots of daytime minutes. After the little episode as a teen where I ran the phone bill up, I helped pay the large bill and thereafter gave my dad the $15/month for unlimited text messages; and of course now I have unlimited messaging on my plan. I also have my MSN and AIM forwarded to my phone when I am not home, so that adds to the text volume....