I've Got a Phone to Pick with You

Cell phones are an amazing technology. One small handheld device has the ability, from nearly anywhere in the world and across unthinkable distances, to cut you off in mid-conversation. For reasons like this, plus issues of national security, I've avoided getting a cell phone. So I was more than a little apprehensive when my preteen son wanted his own phone. You yourself might be having this same anxiety, and he's not even your kid!

My son had been asking me for a cell phone for quite some...