Controlling Kids' Cell Use

  Now that millions of kids are toting around mobile phones, parents are looking for more ways to police how they're using them. There's the obvious stuff, such as limiting the hours your kids can use the phone, or barring them from access to certain Web sites, but some companies are also adding location-tracking features so that Mom and Dad have an idea of whether Junior is really at school or not.

A company called Firefly Mobile is offering a phone specifically for kids aged 5 to 8. Instead of a standard keypad, it will have dedicated buttons for dialing Mom and Dad or 911. (See the image at left.) Apparently civil libertarians have criticized the tracking technologies, but since when were families free societies?—Gregory Mone

Via WSJ

Comments

[Kyle]

this is cool and all but when I was 5 to 8 years old I don't ever remember needing to dial 911 or need to call mom or dad because there was always a land line near by, because I was either at a friends house, my house, or with my parents in a public place. I wouldn't buy this if I had kids but it looks cool.

To me it seems like this is a way for the cell phone companies to reach out even more than they already have. But hey we live in America so "its all good" right?

[penelope]

When grade schoolers are already computer and internet aware constantly exposed to a host of gadget wizardry their parents, teachers, uncles and aunts use, their level of satisfaction shoots up beyond what elders think are the domain of kid stuff. It’s not surprising to see a bunch of 8-9 year olds kids coming out form school take out their Motorola ROKR and RAZR phones and Sony Ericsson Walkman phones to call their dads and moms. They’re pretty much hand-me downs alright – old model mid range handsets that over a period of 3 years have assumed the unenviable status as kids cell phones pay as you go which rightly provide parents with a way to monitor and control their kids’ consumption of talk times or as a means to reward and punish.

[Spelling Game For Kids]

It’s not surprising to see a bunch of 8-9 year olds kids coming out form school take out their Motorola ROKR and RAZR phones and Sony Ericsson Walkman phones to call their dads and moms.