Mom, I need a new phone!!!

There are so many cool phones on the market today..... They have nice big screens and they are so pretty and shiny. Don't gag, I'm a sucker for cool cell phones, covers, you name it! My 16 year old daughter has gone through 3 different phones in the last 2 years. So guess what she is eligible for now?? An upgrade She really does need one...Her screen looks like its about to shatter from so much texting. She really wants this new phone that a bunch of her friends have. It's the HTC VIvid and it is big and shiny and looks super cool. It's pretty inexpensive to buy the phone, but then guess what? You have to have a data plan! Almost any phone that looks like a modern device requires data with our particular carrier. What an aweful trick....Get the new cool phone at a great price, but then you have to have the data. Not only do I not want to pay an extra $20 a month, I do not want my teenager having unlimited access to the internet, facebook, or whatever apps she choses. I may be too strict or old fashioned, but texting alone to friends already takes up a lot of a teenager's time. Do I really want her to be handed the world on a plate? Okay, I am being a little dramatic, but the bottom line is that there aren't a lot of phone options out there anymore that don't require you to have a data plan. It's making it very hard to control if you give in. We haven't agreed to it and I don't think we will. She's sad and I get it, and she's a good girl so I really don't worry much about her if we did give in. I guess that's not really the point, is it? It's hard to raise teenagers today. You want them to have things, but what does giving them everything really teach them?