Mobiles target ‘tween’ safety

PHONE companies in Ireland are falling over themselves to introduce anti-bullying packages for their “tween” customers.

3 was first out of the traps last Christmas introducing a Kidsafe package in the wider Dublin area — Kidsafe will go nationwide next month. Next up is 02 who is due to launch a free service, BlockIT, at the end of the month. Vodafone’s foray into the area is planned to coincide with the start of the school year in September.

The fourth player in the market, Meteor say they have set a budget and set of criteria for their planned anti-bullying service and are seeking tenders.

Tweens (the term coined by marketeers to describe children aged 8-13) are widely acknowledged as being highly susceptible to marketing, and capable of exerting sustained pressure on their parents to buy the latest trend.

With the adult handset market beyond saturation, the tweenie demographic promises sustained growth.

“There is already an ever growing population of tweens with mobile phones out there. These youngsters are tech savvy and know exactly what they want, and they are quickly becoming the new favourites of the wireless industry. Overall customers are getting younger and younger, and the tween market is a promising playground,” say Mobile Youth, the youth marketing consultancy:

Anecdotally, the phone companies say children are looking for phones at approximately aged 9 or 10. This is a year or two older than in Britain. None of the four mobile phone companies in this country will admit to conducting market research amongst this age group but over the next year, three out of four of them will have anti-cyberbullying packages in place so parents can be assured that their kids are protected from phone bullying.

And not without time says Fine Gael spokesman on telecommunications, Simon Coveney who, told the Dáil Telecommunications Committee, that on a recent visit to a primary school, he found that just four of the children in the class didn’t have mobile phones.

“I want parents to be able to go into a shop — it does not matter whether is 3, Meteor, Vodafone or O2 and be able to choose a mobile phone that they can control for their children.”

3’s technology provider brought Kidsafe to the Dublin market at Christmas with the aim of giving parents “peace of mind”. It can be downloaded from a portal on the www.3.ie website.

“Calls and text messages in and out can be limited to family and friends that are approved by the parent. Up to 200 numbers can be blocked. It allows parents to key into the settings the numbers that they want to sanction. It is something at a corporate level that we take very seriously,” a 3 spokesman said. It is, however, only available on a limited number of handsets

The free 02 device, Block It, will allow customers to block unwanted text, picture and video messages from other mobile phone numbers. It doesn’t include voice calls.

02 has also introduced the Firefly phone, which is “designed from a parent’s point of view and includes all key features required by a child”.

“It is protected by a parent-assigned PIN which allows parents to enter up to 22 trusted numbers into the phone including a speed-dial number for ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’, Firefly’s call screening option ensures that children can only receive calls from the contacts in their phonebook and as the handset does not have any texting or downloading capabilities, it is simple to use,” an 02 spokesman said.

The Vodafone service is based around a “content control system which can capture abusive text messages”. It’s unclear yet whether voice messages and voice calls will be included.

A survey of 2,800 secondary school students completed by Trinity College Dublin last year found that one in seven students claim to be bullied via a mobile phone

Irish children as young as 12 are the victims of cyber bullying via mobile phones, according to the poll by security software specialist AdaptiveMobile.

Across Europe, children are now being advised to tell adults and teachers if they witness phone bullying and also not to leave mobile phones unattended so their phone contacts can be accessed.

“If you do experience mobile phone bullying, either verbally, by text message or by a bully sending you an image of some kind, it is important that you do not attempt to retaliate or even reply at all. Bullies “get their kicks”, if you like, from the power and control they exert over others and they seek to confirm that power by provoking you into a response. If you refuse to be provoked and do not respond at all, you deny the bully the sense of satisfaction that he or she is seeking,” the website www.bullying.co.uk warns.

Most simply, unlike physical playground bullying, where it can be hard to find a witness, the texts, messages and images should be saved.

“Keep a diary of what is happening to you — when and how — and learn how to save the evidence: offending messages, images, etc — which may be vital when a bully is finally caught and punished,” the website warns.