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Gadgets o' Plenty
Does Your Preteen Really Need That Stuff?
By Sue Marquette Poremba
If adults have trouble navigating the ever growing maze of gadgets, then how can we expect our children? "How many of our children can tell the difference between a fad and a staple, whether they 'need' or 'want' that iPod or X-Box?" says Jenifer Lippincott, co-author of 7 Things Your Teens Won't Tell You (And How to Talk About Them Anyway) (Random House/Ballantine, March 2005). "They learn from us, of course. Our purchasing power becomes theirs."
In other words, parents get to decide the difference between needs and wants. However, in wanting to fulfill their child's wishes, many parents find themselves justifying the need over the want. A cell phone for an adolescent who needs to coordinate rides home from school may be a justifiable expense, but should parents give in to the camera phone because of the cool factor?
"Absolutely not," says Caroline Honn of Plano, Texas. "If you wait five more minutes, there will be something else to have momentary 'cool' status, and once you get on the merry-go-round, you realize it doesn't ever stop."
The "cool status" is usually the driving force for the adolescent who claims to need all the latest (and high-priced) gadgets. By being the first kid in class to own the newest and most-hyped video game, the self-esteem of even the most popular adolescent rises. For an adolescent who feels unpopular, the coolness factor of wearing iPod earbuds is almost necessary.
