Cellphone use among children has reached unprecedented levels of use. Cellphones are an important part of children’s day-to-day lives. Around 22 % of young children possess a cell phone (ages 6-9), sixty percent of tweens (ages 10-14), and 84 percent of teenagers (ages 15-18). Additionally mobile phone suppliers now are advertising to younger kids with decorative kid-friendly phones and easy-to-use features. Roughly 54 percent of 8 to 12 year olds could have mobile phones within the next 3 years.
The Upside with Cell Phones include: Wellness Guide: Programs that give personalized sms that assist a person with going on a diet, remembering to take medications, or encouraging them to quit smoking happen to be gaining in popularity. For instance, one company is exploring the ability to send out pictures of what you might be consuming via your phone’s camera so you can correspond with a nutrition consultant about that food.
Security: The advantages of cellular phones in emergency situations is undisputed. The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 74 percent of Americans state they’ve used a cellular phone during an emergency. Moreover, some emergency agencies are encouraging cellphone users to put ICE (in case of emergency) in front of names of individuals in your cellphone directory whom emergency personal ought to contact case of an emergency. New cell phones making use of GPS technologies allow parents to locate their children.
Convenience: No one can dispute the benefit of being able to contact your child right away, or a kid being able to get in touch with his mother or father, when it comes to unexpected change of plans. Furthermore, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that roughly 41 percent of cellular phone users state they multitask by making calls when commuting or waiting around.
The Drawback of Cellphones involves, Health Risks: yet another study looked over habit forming, difficult use of cellphones and observed a link among low self-esteem and problem cellular phone usage. A study measuring the connection between mobile phones and mental health discovered that teenagers that utilized mobile phones the most were very likely to be anxious and depressed.
Bullying: Text messaging is increasing used by bullies to torment their victims. Cyberbullying, psychological harassment in text or instant messaging, is much more often perpetrated by girls, that initiate inappropriate communications or spread destructive gossip.
Eye strain and digital thumb: Like some other repetitive strain injury that can result from computer use and other repeating tasks, these types of ailments migh result from centering continuously on a tiny screen and typing on tiny buttons.
Bacteria: Because of the close proximity to the mouth area where germs could be passed from breathing, coughing and sneezing, most mobile phones are crawling with bacteria. Furthermore, lots of people use their mobile phone almost everywhere, even in the lavatory.
Insomnia: One investigation discovered that several teenager cellphone users are likely to be woken at night by inbound text messages or calls, and are therefore more likely to be fatigued and less able to concentration during the day.
Reliance: One review confirms that 37 percent of teenagers thought they probably would not be able to live without a mobile phone once they had it. This study also shows that the more friends a teen has, the more likely they are to feel dependent on their cellphone and let telephone calls or text messages interfere with their daily routine.
Dishonesty: The Pew Internet & American Life Project discovered that thirty-nine percent of cell customers ages 18-29 say they are not absolutely honest concerning exactly where they are when they are on the phone.
Cost: Parents sometimes experience sticker shock when they get the monthly bill for their child’s mobile phone. Special ring tones, text message, image and video messaging, downloadable games, overage minutes and connecting to the internet can all be outrageously expensive and heavily used by kids.