It's nice when teenagers can always be reached by their parents with a mobile phone. However, with owning a mobile phone also comes responsibility, because with a mobile phone you can not only make calls and text, but also take pictures, surf the internet and store personal data. In addition, teenagers are particularly susceptible to the distracting effect of a mobile phone. Before parents give teenagers a mobile phone, some clear rules should be established.

The mobile phone charger should be in the living room and stay there. Under no circumstances should it be in the child's room, as this will tempt them to make late-night calls or send text messages at bedtime.

Contacts

Parents should have full access to the contacts in the phone, which means they should also know the PIN. Each contact should be entered with full name. It is best to divide the contacts into groups, for example school, family, friends and football group. When parents look through the contact list from time to time, they should check for new names. Contacts that parents consider inappropriate should be blocked.

SMS

Teenagers quickly lose track of the amount of short messages they send. Therefore, sending text messages should be set to specific times, for example after homework. In addition, parents should be allowed to check text messages at any time. If the teenager refuses, the mobile phone is taken away for a week. Even though this rule seems harsh, it is important for safety.

Security

The teenager should understand that a mobile phone number should not be published on the internet, neither on Facebook nor on any other social networking site. Stalkers exploit such information to know when and where the teenager is, based on their status.

Responsibility

The mobile phone must not be used to send inappropriate messages or photos or as a means of intimidating others. A text message sent cannot be taken back. This includes forwarding malicious messages from others.
Any violation of the established rules leads to a one-week phone withdrawal. In this way, the young person learns to deal responsibly with the privilege of having his or her own mobile phone.