Young people (see preteens/teenagers) are now being equipped by parents with smart phones and mobile devices equipped with WiFi or 3G service. They use these devices to update Facebook, play games, and more importantly, look at websites.
Most would suffice to look at ESPN.com or perhaps Seventeen Magazine, Abercrombie & Fitch, or perhaps their blogs and Flckr accounts. However those no including in the “most” category are using these mobile devices to look at things that if their parents would see on a computer screen, would be grounded.
Mobile pornography. This never really came to my mind until I realized what the capability these devices have in that sense of applicability and what that means for a 14 year old boy.
You can put up firewalls, you can secure websites on your laptops and personal computers, you can even block channels on your cable but have you ever thought of what you kids might be looking at, reading, or watching on their phones or iTouches?
I can remember when I was growing up that video games were unrated until, Mortal Kombat hit arcades in 1994. This game unleashed a whole new type of violence that wasn’t mainstream to the public but was slowly making its way in (thank you DOOM).
Now when I purchased my Droid Incredible, I had to register this device with a Gmail account to access the phone and get it to start working.
So here is my idea…
Why don’t mobile phone suppliers and cellular phone service providers build into the software a registration page that requires you to enter in the date of birth of the main user of the device? This setting will then set up automatic protection features that will not allow users of the phone to access certain sites or even use certain words (why would a 13 year old need to type a curse word?). Set the bars at 13 and 18 years of age and viola perhaps you have made the device just a little bit safer for your child to use.
We have these ratings on video games and we have them on movies. Two things that these mobile devices can now access without any such rating system to worry about.
It seems like a simple solution to a problem that society may not know we have yet, but I can tell you, these kids aren’t just making phone calls with these devices.
That’s my idea for the day – who says it couldn’t happen?
Rock on,
Joe
