Cell phone technology has greatly changed throughout the last couple decades. I remember when my mom had a cell phone the size of a loaf of bread and now they can easily fit in your pocket. Disney had his on this cell phone technology a couple of times throughout the years. One of its first services was geared toward the younger generation with kids probably under the age of 10. These
phones could be set up to only have certain numbers attached to them such as Home, Mom’s cell, 911 etc. These phones and the service was discontinued in 2007. Recently, Disney just came out with a phone that has some of the same features of the original phone but looks like a real phone. The age group here Disney is trying to hit is between 11 and 15. For this new phone, Disney has partnered with
LG and the phone has features in which parents can limit the time spent on the phone as well as only let it be used during certain times of the week. Also, with a feature called “Family Monitor”, an allowance of minutes, text, and picture messages can be set up. When that limit is reached both the child and the parent will be alerted and from there a decision can be made either to add more to the phone or let it just reset the next month. (
source)
Overall, I think that this technology is good but what age is okay for children to have cell phones? I did not get my first phone until I was a freshman in high school and some of my friends did not get one until they could pay for it by themselves. This is a huge issue because why does a kid need a phone, it is just taking away from childhood and the one on one contact that these kids need. I see kids running around with iphones and I just don’t understand what parents are thinking giving kids them. I think Disney is doing a good thing here making it possible to supervise their kids’ cell phone use but I don’t know if it is a great idea for kids to get it at such a young age. This may sound a little cliché but these kids are growing up too fast!
I didn't get my first cell phone until I was in high school either, when we moved to more of a city than a small mountain town. I feel like a 10 year old having a cell phone isn't all bad in case of an emergency because it seems like kids are being encouraged to walk and bike more and if they become stranded or hurt they can call 911 or their parents. It seems like a bad idea to me to give them much more than that though and it is teaching them to be dependent on technology early on so I'm not really sure on that one either.
ReplyDeleteI agree there is really no need for a kid to have a phone that young. However, if every kid in the classroom has one then the kid whose parent refuse to give in are setting the child up for less of a social life since phones are the social standard. I do like disneys idea on limiting the phone and text time but maybe we need to put it up to teachers as well. For instance, you aren't allowed to bring a backpack to class and it has to be left in your locker, maybe (and I'm sure it is to some point) the same should be informed for phones.
ReplyDeleteOur kids are a little young for this yet, but I have friends going through it with their kids. I think we'll let our kids have simple phones (calling only, very limited in terms of minutes). NO TEXTING! A great book called "Girls on the Edge" shows that most young women are really struggling to manage texting/Facebook/etc. Too much time online and not enough time to just be themselves. They feel like they're always being watched, and it messes with their heads.
ReplyDeleteBut does that mean I have to give up MY texting? Hmmmm....
I didn't know Disney was in the phone business. Do they partner with another company?
They had partnered but they had stopped in 2006 I believe now they are just starting with this new LG phone and from there I guess they may expand more.
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