Kids with Mobile Phones
Australia - 19/10/2004
We recently saw on the news how a 12-year-old racked up a $350 mobile phone bill. She had responded to one of those "193 193" advertisements on television, only to be inundated on a daily basis with messages offering more ring tones, etc. Believing they were free, she downloaded more content for her phone.
There are two sides here, each (I believe) equally as valid.
As soon as the "193 193" advertisements started appearing, I immediately saw them as an attempt to lure people in. "It’s simple, just text a word or two to this number and you get stuff for your phone!" The advertisements do not clearly indicate the cost involved with downloading content. (I think it’s down in the fine print somewhere, but who honestly reads this?) They obviously then use the phone numbers requesting the content as a target for spam advertising. This marketing strategy is deceptive and irritating. I hope the ACCC gets called in to investigate these virtual con-artists.
On the other side – I have to ask the question: Why does a 12-year-old have a post-paid mobile phone? Younger people (and even some not-so-young) do not seem to realise the longer-term consequences for what they do. They live for the moment. This includes mobile-phone usage. They want to text someone or make a quick phone call and they do so without considering how much they’ve done this already and that it is going to add up to a very large phone bill. They are then lumbered with huge debts that may hang over them for quite some time (unless they’re parents are nice enough to bail them out.) Pre-paid mobiles are a perfect solution to this problem. With a pre-paid mobile phone, young people learn to "budget" their resources so they don’t run out. They can’t be lumbered with huge debts. They learn they can only "live for the moment" if they have the means to do so.
As deceptive as the "193 193" advertisements are, if the 12-year-old in the news story had a pre-paid mobile phone, she (and her mum) wouldn’t be in this mess. She would have soon realised that the content wasn’t free – once her credit ran out. It would still be a huge lesson, but not quite SO huge.
| Others' Views: Based on 18 votes |
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| Totally agree: | 
(77.8%) |
| Mostly agree: | 
(16.7%) |
| Mostly disagree: |
(0%) |
| Totally disagree: |
(5.6%) |