Last spring was a very rainy soccer season. I had to make countless calls to the school office to ask the receptionist to relay to my son the news that his after school practice was cancelled. It got so embarrassing, I started to make my husband call instead. Finally, I decided it was time to break down and buy my middle-schooler his very first cell phone.

The Verizon salesman asked me what kind of phone I was looking for. Before I could even answer he started pulling phones to show me…

“This one is really cool. It’s got everything a kid could want. A full QWERTY keyboard for texting, touchscreen, front and rear camera, plenty of memory for any kind of games or apps he might wa…”

I interrupted him before he went any further.

“What I’m looking for is the kind of phone that can only make and receive phone calls. Possibly through smoke signals. I’m looking for a phone that has no games on it or anything that smacks of the least bit of fun…the kind of phone the other kids at school might make fun of my son for having…”

“Well.” he said after a moment of stunned silence, “I can honestly say that no one has ever come in here asking for a phone with that criteria before.”

I ask you: Is that so wrong?