For many teens, and even younger kids, smartphones have become a lifeline—the source of all social connection. The loss of a phone and the fear of missing out can cause teens to resort to desperate measures to restore that connection.
Jalyn began sneaking into her parents’ room to get her phone after they had gone to sleep. She usually fell asleep with it. When her parents would find it in her bedroom the next morning, they would take it away.
That’s when Jalyn turned to burner phones, a term popularized by TV shows like “Breaking Bad” and “The Wire,” which featured drug dealers using cheap phones they would later dispose of, or “burn,” to avoid detection. In today’s teen parlance, a burner phone can be a prepaid cellphone or any out-of-service phone they can still get to work on Wi-Fi....
Dr. Joel Beeke | 1/4/2009
