Does this count as an argument for... or against... teen cell phone ownership?

It was twilight time for the old Curmudgeon -- not literally, you understand, not with the Sun setting -- but in that uncertain period when the late news has ended and the appropriate History or Discovery channel has yet to be selected. I was sitting in my recliner, flipping through the channels drowsily, my laptop computer open and still running a game that I had been playing earlier.

Soon though, barring any interruption, I would surrender myself into the arms of Morpheus.

Long Suffering Spouse had already surrendered; she was apparently sound asleep on the couch.

Youngest Son was at the desktop computer. He had commandeered the Internet connection some time before and was busy chatting in a couple of IM windows and checking his investments on Protrade.

Bet that perked you right up, didn't it? A 14 year old managing investments? But this Protrade is the latest thing in fantasy sports. You sign up and then 'buy' 'shares' of teams or players. You can sell your shares, too, and you can gain or lose value in the market. And it's free.

Anyway, this was our tender domestic scene the other evening. Middle Son was out -- which was how Youngest Son got a turn at the Internet -- and Younger Daughter had gone up to bed already. She's been grounded lately -- again -- and, without being able to use either the phone or the Internet, she tends to retire at a decent hour.

It was at this point that the phone rang.

Long Suffering Spouse's startle reflex was immediately triggered. She hollered; I jumped. Youngest Son was right by the phone; he picked it up.

"No," he said in response to the caller's inquiry. "She can't come to the phone now. And she won't be able to come to the phone for some time." He hung up. Younger brothers tend to be very smug when big sisters are grounded.

"Who was that?" asked Long Suffering Spouse, awake and alert now and ready to charge into action. It's a maternal thing.

"It was for Younger Daughter," said Youngest Son.

That being entirely unresponsive, I decided to try my hand at asking the same question. "Well, yes, but who was it on the phone?"

"Some guy," said Youngest Son, more responsively perhaps, but still shedding no light on the actual identity of our late caller.

This was not Youngest Son's fault. I have observed that people -- especially young people -- do not identify themselves when calling anymore. Part of it is that -- our household excepted -- young people call directly to other young people via cell phone. The caller ID on the cell phone tells you that Jim or Jane or Bob or Dreamy Guy is calling because you, the cell phone owner, have programmed that name and number into your phone. In such cases, self-identification would be redundant.

But not at our house. And the caller ID is no help because, unlike land lines, cell phones just come up as "Cellular Call" or some equally unhelpful description.

I had actually looked forward to answering the phone when boys called for my daughters. "Hello, Mr. Curmudgeon," I imagined the call might go, with the caller hitting two octaves in these first seven syllables, "this is [Insert Actual First and Last Names Here]. May I speak with your daughter?"

This has never happened once. Older Daughter is 23; Younger Daughter will soon be 18. *Sigh*

But back to our story: We quickly surmised, and Younger Daughter subsequently confirmed, that the caller was a New Boy.

They're all alike, these New Boys, or at least all the ones that call for Younger Daughter are all alike: They can not screw up the courage to call during the hours when normal people are awake. They call instead during Teen Time, those hours after curfew and before the birds start chirping in the new morning.

In some families, this might not be a problem: New Boy would reach Younger Daughter on her cell phone and Sleeping Parents would never be the wiser.... Say, wait, is that a problem or not?

As long-time readers here know, my children have each received a cell phone when they've gone away to college. Middle Son bent the rules a little: He used mine toward the end of his high school career. I didn't need it during the hours that he would be most active. So I could take my own phone to and from work (lucky me). If I worked late, however, I might accidentally get Middle Son's calls.

In fact, I got more calls from teenage girls during Middle Son's senior year in high school than ever I did when I was a teenage boy.

Long Suffering Spouse is weakening, just a little, now that Older Daughter and Oldest Son are off our cell phone plan. She's thinking that -- before DCFS comes to get us for so depriving our children -- maybe we should get Younger Daughter and Youngest Son cell phones of their own. Even though Younger Daughter will be only a high school senior this Fall... and Youngest Son only a freshman. "It's different now," she tells me, "there are no more pay phones and it might be easier for me, picking up Youngest Son from football, for example."

But I don't know....

There are these 10:45pm phone calls. Or 11:25. Or 1:10am.

Is not getting awakened by an incoming call to one's teenager an entirely good thing?

I say Younger Daughter should train each New Boy to call during reasonable hours instead and be prepared to identify himself by first and last names when I answer the phone. But I seem to be increasingly on my own on this.

Am I?