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Articles: Parenting
- Cell Phones for Kids
By Barry
Nagassar
Take a random tween, age 8-12, place them in
front of a rotary phone and observe at the blank stare of
bewilderment. Yes, gone are the days of the landline, pushed aside
by the next wave of technological advancement. Mobile phones are
fast displacing landlines in many homes; accompanying this movement
is the fact kids regularly use and know how to use these cell
phones. The mobility of cell phones means you can be anywhere and
have the necessity, or should I say the convenience, of a phone.
Cellular service providers and manufacturers would enjoy
nothing more than exploiting the vastly untapped tween market.
However, is it necessary to provide cell phones to kids age 8-12?
What makes it necessary today? Is the simple the notion of having
the technology enough reason to equip younger and younger customers
with phones? Where do we draw the line when it comes to tweens
owning cell phones, and when should we be restricting use? The
remainder of this article will discuss the pros and cons of
purchasing cell phones for kids. It will discuss the social aspects,
health concerns, and cost issues.
Social and Cost
Issues: Weighing in at a paltry 56 grams, designed with a
smaller frame to accommodate smaller hands, measuring 88 x 44 x 20
mm, one of the leading cell phones targeted exclusively towards the
8-12 market, the Firefly. It offers up to 2.5 hours of talk time,
and up to 100 hours of standby, basically it's your bare bones cell
phone that permits parent's to limit outgoing calls to certain
numbers and also sports 'mom' and 'dad' buttons for quick dialling.
The Firefly is marketed with such catch phrases as "Parents of
pre-teens understand that it's time to start loosening the reins and
letting their kids travel unsupervised to school, the library, or
friends' houses."
Pro: Yes kids need a safety mechanism and
having a cell phone handy does provide added protection in the form
of determining whereabouts and phoning for help.
Con: Big safe mechanism,
however, if any parent purchases a cell phone for their kid using
the catchy marketing ploy directed to parents, '...start loosening
the reins and let their k
ids travel
unsupervised,' they have the wrong perception regarding the purpose
of a phone. Anybody who believes that providing a cell phone to a
child automatically provides them with responsibility and ability to
take care of themselves, when they were unable to do so before a
cell phone, are relying too heavily on 'parenting by technology'. Be
mindful of such reasoning when thinking about buying a cell phone.
Con: Another item to consider, are we turning our kids into
internet and mobile phone junkies? One should question whether
connecting kids 24/7 to their friends via cell phone will influence
their social habits. Also, cell phones are quickly becoming the norm
and the fashion. Kids will demand to be hip like their buddies from
school who sport the latest cell phone, or any cell phone for that
matter. Parents will be pressed to give in to ignescent demands of
'everyone else has one', or 'I want to be cool like the other kids'.
Sure it may be good to have your kid fit in, but since when is
school primarily a popularity contest? Furthermore, when does
fitting in cost so much?! The thing with cell phones is there are
monthly costs attached -- not a one time sunk cost. Chances are you
will pay the monthly fees. Some options are available to have
'pay-as-you-go' options, you pay for whatever minutes you purchase,
however, either or, the more your kid talks on the phone, the more
you pay. Don't forget too that cell phones are more than phones.
Almost all (the Firefly does not) have text messaging and more
complicated communication tools included that have an attached cost
as well. Boy, this is starting to get expensive!
Health Issues: The Firefly cell phone is
designed to give the bare phone essentials. However, this phone is a
candybar style, which means the antenna is located within the phone
unit and does not protrude out. This means cellular frequencies are
closer to the brain. The question now revolves around how early is
too early for exposing kids to cellular frequencies on a regular
basis? On one hand you don't want to risk your child's health, on
the other hand scientific research is still inconclusive when it
comes to cell phone 'radiation'. The juror is still out on this one,
be your own judge regarding the health impacts.
There you
have it, some helpful reminders to consider before going out and
dropping a couple hundred dollars and an additional twenty per
month, minimum, on a cell phone for junior. One certainly cannot
downplay the safety benefits, you never know when it could save a
life, however, at the same time, there are many con items to
consider before sending buying a a cell phone for junior. One thing
is for sure, the little handset device will never replace
supervision from an adult when supervision is
due.
Owner and operator of http://www.discusswireless.com/ visit for useful
cell phone reviews, PDA reviews, consumer discussion on wireless
news, and service provider issues. Also visit the shop section for
price comparisons between competitors.
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