It was bound to happen sooner or later, but it now appears that specially made cell phones are now available for kids as young as age 3 (old enough to not be using the phone as a teething ring). A British cellular phone company has decided to make a marketing push towards an age group that is barely potty trained, let alone have even knowledge of numbers or written language. Called the Firefly, the phone is available in attractive “little kid colors” like pink for girls and blue for boys. The phones also have special rings to them that can be programmed with favorite kid’s tunes or nursery rhymes.
Operating the device is very simple, with only for basic symbols beside the on/off button. The symbols are a male caricature to denote “Daddy” and a female one for “Mommy”. If Junior has a problem like wetting his pants in preschool, or just misses his parents, he simply pushes the button for either mom or dad and their cell or other chosen number will ring. The phone isn’t meant to be an actual cell phone, but up to 20 different phone numbers can be stored, and if the child is smart enough, he or she can be taught to push different “speed dial” numbers for other important people, including grandparents, and even emergency 911 type of numbers. Kids can also receive phone calls from the stored numbers, enabling parents, working ones, to be able to communicate with their children during working hours.
The phones are already a bit hit in the U.K. and Ireland, as well as in America, where they sell for around $100, and will undoubtedly be soon available in Europe. Many people in countries in which young children as young as age 5 or 6 already have personal cell phones see this new device as one that will get kids “hooked” on using cell phones at an even earlier age than they are now. Many parents who already have astronomically high cell phone bills because their kids simply use them too much are beginning to agree that these devices are causing more harm than good, despite their benefit as a “tracking device” to better know where their kids are.
“This is simply not healthy; why do kids this age have to be contacted by cell phone?” one British parent asked, when questioned about whether he planned to purchase this phone for his child. Maybe there is some logic in this, as kids (and adults) got along fine without these communication devices came into existence.
Now for the good stuff (NYTimes.com):
In January, the National Research Council in the United States also delivered a report – commissioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – that reviewed existing scientific studies around the world and urged further research on the impact of mobile phone use on children and pregnant women.
“This clearly is a population that is going to grow up with a great deal of larger exposure than anybody else because the kids use the phones all the time,” said Frank Barnes, a professor of engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder, who led the study. “And you’ve got growing bodies and brains, so if there is going to be an impact, that’s likely to be a more sensitive population.”
Every year, the average age of novice mobile phone users is dropping, reaching the age of 10 last year, according to Scott Ellison, an analyst at International Data Corp. He forecasts that the 9-and-under market will increase to nine million users in the United States and $1.6 billion in revenue by 2010.
Telephone use is also getting more precocious in Europe, according to a Eurobarometer survey of almost 1,000 children in 29 countries, most of whom had telephones after age 9.
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