 Hot
new market for cellphones: young kids
By Jolayne Houtz
Seattle
Times consumer-affairs
reporter
 Tristan
Pasterick of Sammamish started
clamoring for a cellphone in
first grade after admiring
his older cousins sporting
snazzy new phones.
Six seemed too young to Tristan's
parents. They waited until
last summer, just before the
8-year-old entered third grade.
"He wanted a puppy or
a sibling, and he wasn't going
to get either of those, so
we went with a cellphone instead," joked
his mother, Rachel Pasterick. "This
was cheaper and cleaner."
Tristan, now 9, keeps his
cellphone charged and stashed
in his backpack, next to a
bit of emergency cash and some
extra pencils.
When the school bell rings,
Tristan flips open his phone
as he walks home with friends
or while waiting for his mom
to pick him up.
"It's a way for us to
keep in touch, and for peace
of mind — his and mine," Rachel
Pasterick said.
Phones for tweens
Tweens — children from
ages 8 to 12 — are the
new frontier for the cellphone
industry. In the past year,
a half-dozen companies have
announced products aimed at
the lunchbox set and the parents
trying to keep tabs on them.
Kids, of course, are drawn
to the phones' "cool factor." Children
as young as 6 are packing phones
inside their Hello Kitty and
Spiderman backpacks. Principals
of Seattle-area elementary
schools say this is the first
year cellphones have been noticeable
on their campuses. Many are
creating school policies governing
cellphone use, like those in
place at middle and high schools,
where cellphones are more common.
Children's advocates and safety
experts say mobile phones in
the hands of young children
raise some questions: How should
parents monitor a child's phone
use? Will a phone lead to a
false sense of security? Who
else might get access to the
child's phone number?
"If your child has a
handheld device that can connect
them to the Internet, you have
no control over that anymore," said
Susan Linn, co-founder of Campaign
for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
Parents "are allowing
corporations, to say nothing
of pedophiles, unfettered access
to their kids."
Peace of mind
As the chief scheduler and
driver for a "typical,
triple-tasking family" with
three children, Britt Weber
of Normandy Park worried about
getting stuck in traffic while
chauffeuring her children to
their activities.
She and her husband decided
that 9-year-old Madelyn was
ready for a cellphone this
year as third grade began,
and added her phone to the
family's calling plan for $15
a month.
Their seventh-grade son also
has a cellphone. So far, their
5-year-old son remains cell-less.
Madelyn is allowed to use
her cell only for outgoing
calls and in emergencies after
school, Weber said. It has
five numbers programmed in:
Mom, Dad, home, brother and
one friend.
"I just felt easier,
knowing that she could call
me," Weber said. "What's
my child and my peace of mind
worth?"
And it's already come in handy.
Weber once forgot to pick up
her daughter after school.
"She called me and said,
'Mom, I don't see you here,'
but she didn't panic," Weber
said.
Still, Weber said she's gotten
some grief for letting Madelyn
go wireless.
"All her friends' parents
said, 'Why did you get her
that? Now I'll have to,' " Weber
said.
Bait-and-switch?
The real target for cellphone
companies is kids aged 10 to
16: the ones "who are
going to spend considerable
money" to download ringtones,
graphics and games for their
phones, said Ben Rogers, vice
president of technology research
with GfK NOP Technology, an
international market-research
firm.
But by appealing to 6- to
10-year-olds, companies hope
to hook kids on technology
early and entice them to push
their parents for upgrades,
Rogers said.
Phones like the Firefly and
the Migo, with limited features
and parental controls, won't
appeal to kids much past the
age of 10, he predicted.
"I just don't see them
agreeing to carry a phone that
can only call Mom, Dad and
the police," he said.
"It's almost a bait-and-switch," Rogers
said, explaining that companies
pitch the safety message to
parents, who can then expect
their children to soon be clamoring
for a fully loaded phone.
Companies also are experimenting
with advertising by cellphone.
"This will be a way to
bypass parents and talk to
kids directly," said Gary
Ruskin, executive director
of Commercial Alert. The Portland-based
consumer-watchdog group is
pushing Congress to investigate
the sale and marketing of mobile
phones to young children.
Staying safe
Some law-enforcement officials
like the idea of enabling "instant
check-in" with parents,
but they say cellphones in
the hands of young children
raise some safety concerns.
A cellphone with all the latest
features makes a child more
accessible to anyone, said
Seattle Police Sgt. Leanne
Shirey, who also runs a nonprofit
education organization called
The Internet and Your Child.
"If you ... monitor who
they talk to at home," Shirey
asked, "why would you
hand them a phone" you
can't monitor?
Still, a phone with parental
controls and limited features,
coupled with clear rules about
phone use, could be a good
tool for families, said Michael
Chiu, public-information officer
for Bellevue Police. Chiu said
a cellphone could help by enabling
a child to make a quick call
to Mom before accepting a ride
with a neighbor, for example.
But Chiu said he hopes parents
remember that children still
need to be taught how to be
safe, phone or no phone.
A way to touch base
Many parents see mobile phones
for kids as a way to "parent
on the go," to extend
their oversight and remotely
cover scheduling gaps.
Sally Brady opted to buy her
oldest son, Jack, "the
cheapest phone I could find" and
a pay-as-you-go plan when he
entered middle school in Issaquah
this year.
The school district's late-start
schedule on Wednesdays prevents
Brady, a legal secretary in
downtown Seattle, from being
there when her son boards the
bus that day.
Now Jack and a friend, each
with a cellphone, head for
the bus together, and Jack
sends a text message to his
mom when he's safely aboard.
"He thinks he's cool
to have it, and I think it
makes him feel better on Wednesdays," Brady
said.
But it's not without headaches.
Occasionally, Jack forgets
to text message from the bus,
leading his mom to call the
school in a panic to make sure
he's there.
For the first couple months
Jack had the phone, he received
occasional calls from people
apparently at a nightclub — calls
intended for the person who
previously had Jack's number.
And Jack sometimes forgets
to charge his phone.
"It's one more thing
for me to remember to do," Brady
admitted.
Many families say they are
careful to create rules about
how and when their children
can use their phones.
Teresa Walter of Kirkland
has 10-year-old twins who started
school this year with their
own cellphones.
The twins know their parents
can see all the calls they
make and know they must abide
by school rules to keep the
phones out of sight. They also
know they can't share their
phones with friends, and that
they'll be expected to pay
if their calls push the family
over its monthly allotment
of minutes.
"It's really for convenience," Walter
said.
Whether they're being dropped
off at swim-team practice or
missing home during a sleepover, "I
just want them to know they
can touch base with me anytime."
Shop for Cell Phones Designed
for Kids
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