Parents Beware!

I know there is much emphasis these days regarding sexting especially among teenagers. Sexting (a portmanteau of sex and texting) is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between mobile phones. It is a serious crime and hopefully education programs in schools can emphasis the seriousness of this activity. Our local high school is addressing this problem. See http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/comments/gchs_growing_problem_of_teens_sexting1/

This article was published yesterday by the Associated Press. Parents are often not as tech savy as their young kids - why do 13 year olds need mobile phones? I bet the following parent had a rude awakening!

HAYWARD, Calif. - A 13-year-old teen was probably in hot water with his father after running up a cell phone bill of nearly $22,000.

Ted Estarija said he was expecting his bill to be higher this month after adding his son to his plan, but wasn't expecting a bill of $21,917 in data usage charges. The Hayward man said his Verizon Wireless bill soared after his son apparently downloaded about 1.4 million kilobytes of data last month.

His plan didn't cover data usage, so he was charged by the megabyte.

Estarija said after the first media reports, Verizon said they would credit his account for the entire amount.

He has also suspended his son's account.

A spokeswoman for Verizon said the company investigates cases with exceptionally large bills.