When to Get Your Child a Cell Phone
Security and cost are two issues to consider when making the decision.
Cell phone companies are promoting new products to
children (and their parents). Is your child ready for the responsibility of a cell
phone?
Issues Parents Should Consider
- On the positive side, some kiddie cell phones have parental controls. For
example, the Firefly cell phone requires a parent to use a PIN number to enter the
phone numbers that the child will be able call.
- The Wherifone uses a GPS device to track the whereabouts of a child carrying the
phone.
- Camera phones can provide a certain measure of security. There have been cases where
children have scared away potential abductors by trying to photograph them.
- On the negative side, older teens often have Web-enabled cell phones, giving them
access to the Internet when parents can't monitor their activity.
Cost
If you think your child can handle the responsibility of staying within a plan,
here's what you need to know before choosing one:
- When phones are Web-enabled, parents are often surprised by the size of the
phone bill. Customers can choose to go without this feature, but increasingly Web-browsing
and text messaging capabilities are bundled with extra weekend and night minutes.
- If a phone is Web-enabled, kids have access to games. Cell phone gaming is the newest
market for companies and is expected to be big business in the next few years. Keep
in mind, too, that there is a billion-dollar cell phone pornography business in
Europe and Asia, which is expected to hit the U.S. market soon.
- According to the market analysis company, The Yankee Group, the biggest trend among
teen cell phone users is pre-paid SIM (subscriber identity module) cards/family
plan hybrids.
Kiddie Cell Phone Companies
Currently available are the Firefly and Wherify Wireless's Wherifone.
The Firefly offers:
- "Mom" and "Dad" speed-dial keys
- A parent-programmed, PIN-protected phone list
- A 211 button for emergency calls
The Wherifone
comes with:
- A Global Positioning System to track the position of your child 24/7
- An "SOS" button
- Five preprogrammable dialing buttons so that parents can control costs
Many more kiddie cell phones are entering the marketplace:
- Disney
Mobile features a Family Monitor service that allows parents to set text and
picture messaging allowances
- Toy company Hasbro offers a device that's a cross between a cell phone and a walkie
talkie and sends voice calls, pictures and text messages between their CHATNOW handsets for distances of up to two miles
Commercial Alert is concerned that:
- Kiddie cell phones will enable child predators to contact children without their
parents' knowledge
- Parents will not be able to control the bills incurred by their children
- The issue of whether brain and ear tumors are caused by cell phones is still unresolved
- Children will be targeted by advertisers through text messaging, "adver-games" and
the usual TV, radio and print advertising
"We do a lot of work trying to stop marketing to children in schools," says Ruskin.
"We've been watching over the last nine months as the cell phone industry has targeted
our nation's kids. They obviously see our kids as their next cash cow."
Child Psychology
Eileen Gallo, a psychotherapist specializing in issues of family and money, believes
parents are buying their children cell phones for the peace of mind it brings. "A
lot of parents are willing to pay for the peace of mind," she says. "How far they
want to go is really up to them. I think there has to be limits though and it's
up to the parents to set the limits. They could do a pre-paid cell phone plan. They
could have limits on the number of minutes the child can talk."
Gallo illustrates with an example: "I have a friend whose daughter has a cell phone.
She and her boyfriend were text-messaging and the bill was $700. The girl's parents
were aghast. They created all kinds of jobs for her so she could pay it off. It
took her a long time to pay it off. And they disabled the text-messaging options.
So that's where the limits come in. Parents need to educate themselves and sit down
with the child. They need to say, 'This is for you and the primary reason is to
stay in touch, for our peace of mind as parents. This is the way it should be used.'
"
A Helpful Suggestion
One way to test if a younger child is responsible enough to have a cell phone is
to give her a toy cell phone to carry around for one semester. If she doesn't lose
the toy phone, she's ready to keep track of a real cell phone.
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