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View Full Version : Kids More Connected Than Ever. Obviously.


Vincent Ferrari
04-27-2009, 05:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/are-kids-becoming-phone-addicts/2009/04/25/1240684317712.html' target='_blank'>http://www.theage.com.au/news/techn...0684317712.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"THERE was a time when children's telecommunications meant two cans connected with string or, for luckier kids, a set of walkie-talkies. But today the mobile phone has become ubiquitous in school playgrounds, with children as young as five having their own. A company in England is even targeting toddlers with a phone designed in the shape of a teddy bear. Three-quarters of Australian children aged 12 to 14 own a mobile phone but by the time they are 15 that number surges to 90 per cent, according to figures from the Australian Communications and Media Authority. "Because it's parents who come in and sign up for the phones it's difficult to say exactly how much this area has grown but the age at which kids get phones is getting younger," says Carmen Gould, head of customer service at retail chain Crazy John's. "Whereas before it was often teenagers getting mobiles, it's not unusual now for parents to buy phones for children as young as eight.""</em></p><p><img height="391" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1240799243.usr18053.jpg" width="227" /></p><p>I spent Saturday afternoon at an outdoor event in Westchester, and I can tell you that there were plenty of kids there a hell of a lot younger than 8 even with phones of their own.&nbsp; On one hand, I always wonder what an eight year old could have to say that would require the phone being glued to their head all day long, but on the other hand I understand that parents may want a phone in their kids' hands as a safety precaution.</p><p>Anyway, the numbers don't lie and lots of kids have phones.&nbsp; Time have changed.&nbsp; Kids are more connected than we ever were at their age.&nbsp; For us, "connected" had nothing to do with wireless phones.</p><p>*sigh*</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

encece
04-28-2009, 01:46 AM
My 9 year old has had his own phone for a year. He texts more than he talks and even has his own twitter account. He has his own gmail account as well.

I monitor his internet/email/texting as much as humanly possible!

Most of his friends dont have phones yet tho. So a lot of his usage is with me, him mother and some aunts and cousins.

But I like him embracing technology early. We need more than one geek in the house! :D

emuelle1
04-28-2009, 12:16 PM
My wife and I have started using text messaging as sort of an intercom in the house. If I'm upstairs on my computer and she's downstairs on hers and I just have to ask her a simple question, I'll text it. It gets to her faster than email would. If I'm on my computer and she needs me to come down, texting is faster than coming to yell up the stairs or asking one of the kids to come get me.

I've gotten so used to doing things this way that the last few times I had to tell the kids to come in from the yard, I wished I could text them. Not that they could read it yet, since they're 3 and 4. But still, I can see the utility in giving children phones.