Next Gen mobile phones becoming little ones' toys - Yahoo! India News
Sydney, Jan 3 (ANI): Five-year-old tots may soon get busy chatting with pals on their own mobile phones as their toy phones may be replaced by real ones in the near future.
According to a study commissioned Cartoon Network, one out of four seven- to 10-year-olds already has a phone. It was also found 17percent more kids owned phones since 2006.
And with phones like Firefly and Teddyfone available for children the figures are likely to register an increase very soon.
"Previously mum and dad would have said 'no way', but if they make it cute enough and enough like a toy they might say 'oh, all right', " the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Raechel Johns, a marketing lecturer at the University of Canberra, as saying about how manufacturers are targeting children as a growing market.
Tim Pethick, the head of Gecko, the company that sells Firefly phones in Australia, said: "Parents are going to want to be able to get in touch with their kids and have their kids get in touch with them."
Many of these new phones allow parents to keep a check on the numbers that can be dialled or even stop text messaging.
Some like the Japanese Kyocera Mamorino, come with a GPS tracker.
"Controlled use to suit the needs of the family is realistic. It can be a useful back-up. But, to put things in perspective, at the age of 10 they are still recommended to have help crossing the road," said Kidsafe NSW executive officer Christine Erskine.
Dr John Irvine, child psychologist and author of A Handbook for Happy Families, believes children don't need phones.
He said: "It's a snowball effect - the more kids that have it, the more have to have it.... The truth is the world has not got more dangerous, the risks to kids from stranger danger is no greater than it has been for many years. Are parents more protective? Yes."
And then there is the risk of radio nations.
Dr Vini Khurana, a brain surgeon, wrote in a paper titled, Mobile Phones and Brain Tumours: "This danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking, and directly concerns all of us, particularly the younger generation, including very young children." (ANI)
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