4 replies to this topic

[tsutton]

Parents demand control over text messaging

A recent survey by Acision, a Messaging company, has found that 90% of parents want to have more control of their children's use of text messages.

The Register said:

More than 90 per cent of parents want more control over their sprog's texting habits, and would buy more phones if they had it.

Messaging company Acision spoke to 1000 mobile phone users and established that parents would be happy to equip their ankle-biters with mobile phones at an even younger age, if only they had more control over the kind of person with whom they were communicating.

It's national anti-bullying week, so an ideal opportunity to remind network operators that if they purchase servers from Acision then they could offer parents the ability to blacklist numbers (requested by 74 per cent of parents). That would, in turn, enable operators to target even younger customers through their parents.

But blacklisting isn't just for children: 83 per cent of adults who've been bullied over their mobile phone would like to be able to blacklist numbers, and number-blocking applications regularly top the list of most-popular smartphone apps.

Is this getting a bit too far? Should the kids be left alone and they will learn how to handle it themselves? Or should the parents butt in and control their kids' habits?

I do not have any kids so I can't comment very much, but if I did, I would teach them about the use of text messaging, just like I would teach them about computers and Internet access.

Is there any parents here that can comment on this? I'd love to hear from you on this subject!

[Via: The Register]

[M Brouns]

tsutton, on Nov 21 2009, 01:13, said:

Is there any parents here that can comment on this? I'd love to hear from you on this subject!

The solution Acision seems to have in mind enables subscribers (or their parents) to block people from  spamming/bullying/stalking them. The level of subscriber interest seems to vary, depending on the ease of use offered. Operators have the ability to have users block others through a website (perhaps on site's like  O2's Bluebook), by sending an SMS to some short code ("block +44..." to 1234), by visiting a mobile website (and  typing in the number) or even by downloading an operator SMS/MMS client  that offers additional features such as forwarding to email, block,,  auto-reply...


The convenience over device clients is that all settings will even work when the phone is than out of reach, battery is  empty, etc I.e bullyers/stalkers won't end up in the users online mailbox.


  As a parent I think blacklisting could be an option when you know your kid is being bullied by someone you know. Also parents could equip their teens with a phone that is only able to send text to relatives/friends. The copy-to-mail feature could be interesting if parents  suspect their teens are being bullied but they have not real sign for  this going on. Survey seem to have indicated that only 10% of parents is aware of others (their kids) are being bullied, whereas other research mentions 1 out of 3 kids experiences bullying through SMS.


Of course it is up to parent and kid who will setup and  control these features.

  

[tsutton]

Thanks for sharing.

[Core_sa]

As a parent of 3 kids myself I would welcome a certain level of "control" over my kids texting habbits.

There is a difficult line between being controlling and over protective and allowing your kids the freedom to grow and develop. My take on the whole issue is that I am responsible for my kids in every way, I will do what I can (like Liam Neeson in the movie Taken) to ensure the safety of my kids, even if it's not cool or not to their liking.

If a service like this would allow my wife and myself to monitor what our kids are up to then bring it on. I am not interested in whether or not it's "fair". Our kids are exposed to a whole new kind of "shyte" these days and its our job as parents / legal guardians to protect the little naive adult wannabe's.

I am sure alot of people would disagree but safety is my top priority.

[awarner]

What's worse is that devices have facebook on them, my daughter while you can control to a certain degree what she does on the internet at home, on her £30 PAYG mobile it's another matter.