On your cell phone??

     

     Apparently, my 12 year old son's life revolves around his little 3 by 5 rectangular box of wonder, more commonly referred to as a cellular phone.  So okay, this isn't exactly new information, but until yesterday I had no idea to what extent he depends on his cell phone.  Yesterday, was a dark, dark day.  My dear son had to leave his phone at the cell phone repair shop overnight.  One day, just over 24 hours was the amount of time that he and his beloved were separated.  Now, I expected a fair amount of pouting and attitude.  I did not expect the panic, anger, and anxiety that followed after walking out of that store.  

    You see, I use my cell phone to talk.  I send occasional texts, emails too.  Facebook, Pinterest, and my calendar  are generally the only other apps that I use.  My son, as it turns out, uses his phone to do homework.  I had no idea, not until he was going into full blown panic mode over information he needed for an assignment that was on his phone.  He also uses his phone to study, communicate with his study group, keep in touch with his friends(of course), communicate with his teachers, plan his every waking moment, ect.....

    I sincerly did not know.  I knew he would be annoyed that he would have to miss a whole days worth of Instagram posts, but I didn't expect that he could potentially be missing out on information he would need for classes the next day, or be unable to complete a homework assignment because he didn't have access to the almighty iPhone.  

     So the issue I have is that I somehow overlooked this information.  I'm a very in-your-business parent.  I know his friends, I know who is dating who among his friends, I make sure I know what's going on with the boy.  So how did I miss this? 

     The only thing I  can think of is that I just assumed.  When he has his nose to his phone instead of asking him what he was doing, I assumed it was something mindless and told him to get off his phone.       Well maybe sometimes it was, but apparently, sometimes it wasn't.  

     So just in case your like me, parents, if you don't know what your kiddos are up to on those phones, find out, the answers might surprise you.  They aren't just for talking....who knew??