Hold On, Let Me Just Call My Two-Year-Old's Cell
from the tones-for-tots dept
As with McDonald's use of playgrounds to get that brand recognition working in kids' heads early, technology makers are eager to get their products in the hands of tots as soon as possible. Wireless carriers have been spending more and more cash on marketing to kids over the years, often dressing the pitches up as educational initiatives. Parents are increasingly using text messaging to keep in touch with their kids too, and often use GPS functionality as a digital umbilical. Combined with the increase in kid-friendly content and games, the age at which junior gets his first clamshell keeps dropping. A new study from the NPD Group suggests that 15% of 2- to 5-year-olds -- and 62% of 11- to 14-year-olds -- now use cell phones. It's not clear what exactly a two-year-old really has to talk about, but every time this is brought up the debate arises over how young is too young for a cellphone. Assuming there are no proveable health risks, it's not clear what harm comes from giving your kid a cellphone, provided you make sure they don't dig themselves into a hole. Whether you think it's a good idea or not, it looks like Mike's 2004 prediction is coming true: we'll soon be handing kids a cellphone a few minutes after they catch their first breath.
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caution - extreme caution
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The President's Analyst
Anybody rememeber _The President's Analyst_ a James Coburn film where the phone company wanted to install a microchip in every child a birth. They just needed to replace names with numbers so the system would work.
That aside I keep threatening to Lojac my six year old.
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well
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Must be boundaries...
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I "have" a kid
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**KARLSPRECHT ALERT**
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WTF?
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Tech kids
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This is stupid
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Re: WTF?
Wolfger,
*You* don't need a computer either. I bet that you spent your entire childhood without one, and you didn't even get your own computer until you were grown and out out on your own. So why is it parents these days seem to think kids need computers?????
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Re: I "have" a kid
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Re: Re: WTF?
That's a good question.
I don't believe that a child should have a cell phone until there responsible enough to pay for it. Saying that, I would be willing to bet a weeks pay that when I do have a child they will be carrying a cell with GPS. Just one of those small 4 button ones.
And I would bet that most people, who don't have kids now, will do so as well when they have them. not because they think that the child needs it, but because they are paranoid about the child.
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5 year old with phone
I must admit the thought of the 5 year old wandering the streets of an evening shocked me more than the fact he had the mobile phone.
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Re: Re: Re: WTF?
I can't think of many desirable fields that your child will end up working in, that doesn't require use of a computer. Sure, there are exceptions.
I don't buy that children need their own computer early on, but they do need access to a computer (under parental supervision) in order to learn how to use one so that they can be competitive in life.
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Re: Re: I "have" a kid
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and for later on
don't just bind them in house in in front of a tv/game console/pc to be safe and you with free time
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and for later on
don't just bind them in house in in front of a tv/game console/pc to be safe and you with free time
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Simple Cell
I think the phone has 3 buttons usable without a code, power, call and hang up.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: WTF?
I guess that having access to technology early isn't inherently a problem (although I have a 3 year old and the thought of giving them a cell phone is both troubling and rather unnecessary. Hell, the only time he is not with his mother or me is when we drop him off at his Grandmothers!).
I worry more about the fact that I see too many parents not properly framing the exposure to the technology. Too many parents use technology as a way of occupying their children in lieu of actually having to interact with them or, God forbid, let them go outside and play with other kids (I laughed hysterically when one of my friends wanted to organize a "play date" and they live 2 houses from us. I told my kid to run over to their house and knock on their door and say that he didn't need a planned time for play)! From TVs in every room, DVD players in cars, ubiquitous cell phones, and high-speed internet kids have so many "distractions" that I wonder why they even bother interacting with other people. Again, the technology isn't the problem it's that too many parents have become lazy and have let the technology take over the job of teaching and socializing their children (not all!). We make it a point to set aside time to interact with our child, and most times the most the most technologically advanced tool used is a ball or a bat.
That being said, my kid can still use the computer and get on the internet (he likes www.disney.com), yet, he doesn't have his own computer because I see no need for one at this age. I've heard parents say that kids need computers and such to be prepared for the future, but I have a basic problem with that, technology changes. Do you really think my kid is going to be using WinXP or MacOS when he's an adult? I hope things have progressed by then! I feel my job is to teach my kid to be able to adapt and think logically. That will give him a more useful toolset then teaching him how to use the window manager in XP.
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Re: Must be boundaries...
If you want your kids to not talk to pedophiles then simply teach them to not talk to strangers. There is no difference in a cell phone and having access to the home landline. Of course they can carry a cell where ever but they can also pick up the home phone whenever if they are home. I know I spent most of my early childhood at home or in the immediate area as I imagine most kids do. Stop blaming technology and teach kids proper safety. What happened to not talking to strangers? At a very young age I was taught to never tell anyone that I don't know anything about myself or where I lived on the phone or otherwise. I was told it didn't matter if the person said they were a cop or anybody else if I didn’t know them I was to tell them nothing. Unless of course they had a uniform to back up the cop claim. If you teach kids this and they understand it then they could have a phone at 6 months and be safe from pedophiles. (For those that missed it the 6 month old comment was sarcasm.) I’m so tired of this “for the children” attitude everyone has. Simply teach kids right and wrong and discipline when necessary and they will grow up to happy, healthy people. Kids today need to be protected and most of the protection they need is from bad parenting.
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Re: well
Yes they should learn from a young age. I believe that not only should they learn technology but also it's place in the world. It is much more important to teach them how to learn, reason and think... and from more than just a self-centered ME ME ME point of view. We need to instill in our future generations the concept of how My Actions affect the global community as a whole. And help them to understand that WE as a whole (regardless of race, nationality or any other differentiation) are collectively responsible for each other and every other life on the planet.
But ... that goes against everything we currently cherish, now doesn't it?
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Re: and for later on
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Really?
Do you need to start training a kid at 6 on a computer so that she/he's got killer Excel skills when he goes off to college??
Let them go outside and play. Stupid schools provide enough computer interaction. No kid...NO KID is growing up afraid of computers. Regardless of whether he owns one or not. Regardless of whether he's in the inner city or suburbs.
The arguement that kids need exposure to computers at home in order to be successful has been debunked repeatedly as well as not making any sort of logical sense.
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Re: Re: well
second, there will always be people who are on both sides of the morality scale. as a whole, this tends to stay balanced. when a group becomes too strict in holding specific morals a group of individuals brances off; the same can be said to happen when a group upholds too loose morals. despite what your perception may be people, as whole, aren't becoming immoral, forms of media just tend to focus on those aspects. do you ever hear news reports about the mormons who go door to door? no, yet you constantly get bombarded with negative happenings. this creates the illusion of a society in decline. also, computer use has little bearing on defining the moral outcomes of a person. having grown up with a computer and the internet (for the most part, since i was 10 or so) i've been subjected to some of the most immoral bizzare things you can imagine, yet this hasn't affected my overall moral characteristics in life.
third, action and consequence, this is something that only life experience really teaches. sure, you can teach your child cause and effect but it will only be abstract notions until an event happens where it is demonstrated for the individual. it's these events in which a person really learns about action and consequence.
fourth, define reality. to quote albert einstein "reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistant one."
computers do an excellent job at teaching some people how to learn and reason. programming for one thing teaches fundamental concepts of logic. this isn't to say they replace an individual teaching, it still requires either the child to teach theirself or someone else to teach them. look at some of the activities of computer use as you would a subject like mathematics, programming is akin to the type of logic found in mathematics (of course, if you ever tried to show a math teacher a simple iteration such as x=x+1 (yes, there is other syntax for this, but for demonstration), the teacher would think you're insane, but from the context of a for next statement its use makes complete sense.).
well, i need to head home... so i'll end there. to say the least, computer use is an excellent tool for a child to develop logic and reasoning. excellent to help them develop problem solving and a variety of other things that derive from logic and reasoning.
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A Tool
The question is whether it's a tool your child needs to know how to use? What about a wrench? A hammer? A punch-down tool? A soldering iron? A cutting torch?
The point is, it varies by the child's maturity level. An active, participative parent can watch a child learn to use and master a computer's abilities. However, most parents simply purchase the computer and plop the kid in front of it and marvel whenever the neighbors come by at "how advanced Johnny is" and how "He knows more about that thing that I do" etc.
I know 5-year olds who handle guns to hunt and compete. But most wouldn't. A parent wouldn't hand the gun to the child and tell him to run out and play. But that same parent would hand the child a laptop and tell him to run on out to the internet...make sure you look both ways when crossing the information superhighway!
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As the price kept dropping, and the phones kept getting smaller with better features, more and more people signed up. Currently, 90 percent of Americans own a cellphone - and 8% of those use their cellphone as their only phone. Since the majority of people without a landline are under 30, we can only expect this number to rise. In fact, I predict that in our lifetimes, cell-only households will become more common than landline/cell - they are currently more common than landline-only (53% versus 37%).
Many of the people on this thread are getting cantankerous, saying, "I didn't need a cellphone when I was their age and so neither should they!" I think these people are still viewing cellphones as a luxury, instead of the next logical step in the progression of phone technology.
I'm 25, and in my circle of friends I know ONE person with a landline. As my generation starts having children, I don't know how many will opt to install a landline just for the kids. I would think that - since the cost of adding a separate line to a family plan is negligable, and they usually throw in a free phone - it is easier just to get the kids their own cellphones instead of paying for a whole separate landline.
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Re: WTF?
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cellphones
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Wow.... so much to talk about...
Kids don't need cellphones... You can't have your kids calling you every 5 minutes when they are at school. I could imagine a kid in kindergarten thinking something isn't fair and immediately calling their parents and complaining... Then a parent blaming the teacher for said unfair behavior happening. When I have kids, if I do give them a cellphone, It will be for emergency only. If their life is not in danger, they better not be using it. If they call me for any non-emergency reason, they will be severely punished.
..And do you think bosses of the parents like their kids having cell phones? I'm sure that not all kids will call their parents at work unless it's a good reason, but I'm sure that some will... heck, when I was a kid I probably would have. Just hope your kid doesn't get you fired.
And that is all just for those 4 button phones.. when kids have a 'normal' cellphone, they will get in trouble in school. I'd almost guarantee it. They will want to call their friends... maybe even during class. They will try to sit in class and play games, etc...
For the record, a lot of adults have horrible cell phone etiquette. If you talk on the phone while ordering food at a restaurant, at a register in a grocery store, at the DMV, in a library, during classes/meetings, etc... you are RUDE! Plain and simple... Heck, I even have a couple professors that will take non-crucial cell phone calls during class! How do we expect kids to know not to use a phone in class when their parents would do the exact same thing!
About computers, though... They can be used for educational purposes. Cell phones can not. I believe that a kid should have access to a computer. They can be a great educational tool. Time should be limited on them though.... An hour a day. And, that means parents have to be more responsible... Net-Nannies and programs to block porn can easily be defeated by children... Don't rely on them. You have to actively educate your children and monitor their internet use.
I lived in a very small town, and when I was 10 years old, I'd meet up with my friends in the morning and we'd stay out until dark sometimes. I never got in trouble, I never got hurt, I always had fun.... Because I was raised properly.
Parents now days always try to avoid their duties of raising their children... seriously... raise your kids right!
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Cells?
However, studies done years ago and then again today prove that even a 2 minute conversation on a cell phone can cause brain damage, irregular moods and learning disabilities, and prolonged exposure can lead to Alzheimer's, dementia, and early senility.
I guess with cell phones it's all about moderation.
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Re: Wow.... so much to talk about...
You also apparently have horrible opinions of all people in general. Most adults I know have the sense to distinguish between what is unfair to what a preschooler thinks is unfair, and won't complain to teachers because their child only got one cookie. And about getting fired? I imagine that many bosses have children of their own, and must have some empathy for a child calling a parent.
And limiting a child to one hour on the computer? Totally impractical. Try researching and typing an essay in only one hour. You can say that books are just as good, but the Internet is much more convenient and has many more resources than a library. (That isn't to say that books shouldn't be used at all.)
You say you came from a small town, which must be the reason you were so perfect. "I never got in trouble, I never got hurt..." Although that is hard to believe. And one more tip? Don't judge other parents until you are one yourself.
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Re: The President's Analyst
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this is so effing stupid
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