Cell Phones Keep No Secrets
I didn't own a cell phone until I was eighteen years of age, and even then my parents had me on a very limited plan.
I had thirty minutes a month on my plan.
Yes, you read that right, a month.
The plan was to use my cell phone to call them when I arrived at college each week.
It was only for safety and emergency purposes.
You can probably guess I went over my minutes quite frequently.
There was no such thing at that point as text messaging though so I didn't have that to help me run up my bill.
Besides running up my bill, there was not much that I could do on the cell phone.
It had no camera capabilities nor did it have the Internet.
It was ancient compared to the cell phones of today.
Today children as young as preschool are carrying cell phones, and not just any cell phone but smart phones, with not only cameras, but text messaging capabilities and an Internet connection.
Why is this scary to me? It is scary because of the power that they hold in their hands.
Cell phones keep no secrets, the connections that can be made and the harm that can be done from them is mind blowing.
Cell phones can now take pictures of just about anything and the pictures can be sent instantly to others.
Kids are taking pictures of private areas of their bodies and multimedia messaging the pictures to each other.
It doesn't stop there, the kids that receive the photo message are then forwarding the photo on to other kids, or worse uploading the photos to the Internet.
Literally in minutes your kids private picture could be spread around the world.
If this isn't enough, the connections that can be made once they go online are even scarier.
Child pornographers are out there lurking just waiting to pounce on an innocent child, or even one that knows a little more and is naïve enough to fall for some of their ploys.
According to Newsweek, "One in five children ages 10-17 have received a sexual solicitation over the Internet.
" 1 The power that our children have in their hands is frightening, and we as parents are the only ones that can do something about it.
What will you allow to happen to your child today, or will you be proactive about the security of your child? 1 The Web's Dark Secret.
Newsweek, 19 March, 2001.
I had thirty minutes a month on my plan.
Yes, you read that right, a month.
The plan was to use my cell phone to call them when I arrived at college each week.
It was only for safety and emergency purposes.
You can probably guess I went over my minutes quite frequently.
There was no such thing at that point as text messaging though so I didn't have that to help me run up my bill.
Besides running up my bill, there was not much that I could do on the cell phone.
It had no camera capabilities nor did it have the Internet.
It was ancient compared to the cell phones of today.
Today children as young as preschool are carrying cell phones, and not just any cell phone but smart phones, with not only cameras, but text messaging capabilities and an Internet connection.
Why is this scary to me? It is scary because of the power that they hold in their hands.
Cell phones keep no secrets, the connections that can be made and the harm that can be done from them is mind blowing.
Cell phones can now take pictures of just about anything and the pictures can be sent instantly to others.
Kids are taking pictures of private areas of their bodies and multimedia messaging the pictures to each other.
It doesn't stop there, the kids that receive the photo message are then forwarding the photo on to other kids, or worse uploading the photos to the Internet.
Literally in minutes your kids private picture could be spread around the world.
If this isn't enough, the connections that can be made once they go online are even scarier.
Child pornographers are out there lurking just waiting to pounce on an innocent child, or even one that knows a little more and is naïve enough to fall for some of their ploys.
According to Newsweek, "One in five children ages 10-17 have received a sexual solicitation over the Internet.
" 1 The power that our children have in their hands is frightening, and we as parents are the only ones that can do something about it.
What will you allow to happen to your child today, or will you be proactive about the security of your child? 1 The Web's Dark Secret.
Newsweek, 19 March, 2001.
