Kids and Cell Phones

Wednesday we talked about Family and the Media. A little bit was about cell phones. I got my first cell phone when I was 15 because I was in a million extra-curricular activities and my parents were not always home for me to call them to pick me up when I was done, so the cell phone allowed me to call long-distance which the school phone couldn't. My first phone was a "dumb" phone (don't think smartphones existed quite yet...if they did it was just the iPhone which was brand new). I thought it was the coolest phone ever. I loved it (it was the Motorola Razr--that was THE phone to have). I didn't get my first smartphone until last year (and I LOVE it!).

Anyway, my husband and I don't have kids, but we sometimes talk about what type of standards/rules we would like to set for when we do have them someday. One thing we've talked about is the appropriate time to let them have a phone. We think 15 is a good age, if they are in extra-curricular activities, maybe a little bit later if not in extra-curricular activities. If "dumb" phones still exist as we know them today, that is the type of phone we would like to give them. Seeing as that'll probably be 16+ years until we have a 15 year old, our smartphones of today will probably be the "dumb" phones of that time (it's pretty hard to find "dumb" phones today even).

I think it's weird seeing people under 12 with cell phones, especially a 6-year-old. I don't know what they would use it for, since most 6 year olds are not in a lot of activities and if they are, usually a parent or someone else is there with them. Maybe they have some good reason for a phone at that age, but I don't know. This is just my thoughts.

On the Hunt for an Apartment (Maybe)

Most of my media consumption this past week (and three weeks really) has been surfing the internet looking for/at apartments. It's like the only thing my husband and I have been doing, besides homework. Who knew there were so many places to go to find apartments? KSL, Apartment Guide, Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, various property managers...The list goes on and on.

Out of the seemingly million apartments (so...that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that's what it feels like) we have seen, there's been a few that we like. Most if not all of them we ended up not liking because of the rent and silly fees. The others just ended up being apartments that we just quite weren't looking for. There's one we looked at recently that we might move to (might being the keyword), but just don't know if we should. Hopefully, we'll find out soon enough if it is the right thing for us to move.

For now, though, I'm content where we are at. It's a nice, modest, spacious, affordable apartment. The nicest place I've probably ever lived in. It also helps that we have amazing landlords. :) 

I'm also thankful for the internet because if it wasn't for it, we wouldn't be able to look at the hundreds (maybe that's a more reasonable number...) apartments/condos/houses.