Why throw the baby with the bath water?
Sad that we are missing another opportunity of teaching proper phone etiquette at a young age, including not answering the phone while lectures are in progress, and speaking softly.
Technology in itself is not evil - and better to train people at a younger age on how to get a handle on it.
Anyhow, until the child is of suitable age, I think data connections should not be given to children so as to prevent them from accessing porn. That is the easiest, cheapest, nastiest way. However, the better way to get around this would be to create a white list, and say allow GPRS connection, and allow them to access Gmail / Yahoo / MSN / LBO etc.
And imagine having your child, and yourself logged on to Google Latitude?
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I too think the problem was not the mobile phones, but the scary mentality of these children who had absolutely no self worth or strength in mind to stand up when something went wrong. THAT should be addressed.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the need to teach kids how to use phones. As Dee points out, it also helps if parents can spend some time with their kids and help them develop a sense of self-worth.
ReplyDeleteI think we all learn the difference between right and wrong from our environment. If that environment isn't properly set, then how can we expect kids to behave the "right" way?
Banning phones from schools may not be the answer. As you say, any technology can be abused. But what about the parents who want to be in touch with their kids? With today's busy schedules, it would help for them to have some means of contact so that amended schedules can be easily sorted out. That way, there'd be (ideally) no more instances of the grumpy kid sitting at the school steps 'cos mum/dad forgot to pick them up... :)