Weapons in the Hands of Children
Articles» Mobile Phone» Weapons in the Hands of Childrenby Susan Dunn, MA, Personal and Professional Development Coach.
Monday December 18th, 2006 08:15 PM
New technology brings new ways to stay in touch and guard your child's safety but it also brings new ways to steal, cheat, bully, act irresponsibly, and harm others.
1. Bullying via camera cell phones and the Internet is an international problem.
A January 2004 article in Canada’s Globe and Mail says cyber bullying is already “common” in North America, and gives examples from Europe, the UK and Japan, as they anticipate the problems to come from the huge number of Internet-connected camera cell phones given to teens and preteens over the holidays.
The London Free Press subtitled an article, “Educators describe cell phones as the fastest-growing method of tormenting children.”
One in six workers in the UK reports having been bullied via e-mail.
2. Misuse starts younger than you can imagine.
BBC News reports that one in nine five to nine year olds has a mobile phone and predicts this will rise to 20% by 2006, making this the fastest growing group of mobile phone users.
A British survey found that more than a third of primary school children with mobile phones have received name-calling text messages, and 10% have received serious levels of threats which could be classified as “bullying”. Here is how an obscene message to a 4th grader was handled - http://www.gsn.org each/articles/email.ballad.html .
3. Preteens and teens use cell phone cameras to photograph peers and humiliate them over the Internet.
For instance, photographing a student naked in the locker room and then sending it into cyberspace. Text messages are also being used for harassment, and for cheating on exams.
4. The ability to distribute photos on the Internet adds a new level of threat.
Using cameras for surreptitious photographs is not new, according to Douglas Thomas, associate professor of communication at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, who says a camera that fits in the button of a shirt and costs only $35 has been available for years. What’s new is the cyber possibilities. [Christian Science Monitor, fall 2003]
5. Teach your children that with privilege comes responsibility.
One middle-schooler given her grandmother’s hand-me-down cell phone for two months quickly racked up a bill over $1,500.
6. Legislation is starting about the privacy aspects of such photography, beginning with restrictions on federally-owned lands.
The private sector is moving as well. Because of misuse (and not isolated incidents), the YMCA in the USA is advising its hundreds of independent gyms nationwide to ban camera cell phones on the premises. The YMCA of Australia has already done this.
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