Helicopter Parents and Cellphones: Thank God for Family Plans

Further eroding the illusion that college is like the real world, the FS View reports that students at Florida State and beyond are in ever more contact with their parents because of cellphones. Pew research shows 82 percent of all 18-to-25-year-olds said they had talked to their parents in the past day. "One mom mentioned that she calls her son to wake him up in the morning," said one school administrator. "She said if she didn't, he might not make it to class. I told her I thought that was a bit over-the-top."

Parents aren't the only ones who benefit from the hovering—students call multiple times a day to deal with stress and homesickness. "It made me feel better to call them so much," said one recovering student. Just what the cellphone CEOs want to hear. —Alison Go