Children get first mobile at average age of 8

[Frankincense]

" I might end up on someone’s list."

Either way you are on someones list already...keep your accounts and handsets and play with the stuff and watch StarTrek....that way you get to stay with the King....throw them away, plot to overthrow Him and you will find yourself on a more desirable list, but your reward will only be in the afterlife....

lmao

[insulin]

First of all I am a book worm and dislike Star Track with a passion. Secondly I only mentioned it to point out that people will get creative to protect their privacy. Still I do think that privacy is no longer a reality when it comes to the internet or other technologies such as mobile phones. But if you feel it is then I am happy for you.

[Frankincense]

...books are so old fashioned...I prefer the internet....

Agreed 100% with "Still I do think that privacy is no longer a reality when it comes to the internet or other technologies such as mobile phones."

[insulin]

I like to feel texture on the pages and if the book is nice and aged it had that wonderful aroma and yellow pages that seems wiser then it was a few years ago. A good book is to be held it gives the story that something extra. As if it’s more personal because it’s yours. You own it... and soon it becomes one of a kind. I still have my old storybook with the memory of my mom reading me stories before I go to sleep at night. It is older than me but when I take it. The memories come flooding back and I smile. That is the true gift of a book. Also it is worth a lot now. You can’t even get them anymore...

[Dave A]

Interesting comparing books vs reading on the internet.

One of the things I came across is that fonts need to be plain when viewed on a screen. For example Times New Roman is perfectly comfortable to read in printed media but causes strain when read on a screen.

I suspect the way we absorb knowledge is similarly affected by the medium in which it is presented.

[insulin]

I find that Arial is very nice but that is more personal opinion. I write all my novels in Arial also all my poetry. Also I hate white pages. Normally I set them on nice soft yellow or gray but no sharp colours. My basic word setting is Arial size 8 with the zoom set on 120% page colour is light soft gray to ease the eye. Experiment with it. See what works for you.

[Dave A]

Experiment with it. See what works for you.

I did - this is the result

[insulin]

Cool stuff...

[insulin]

One of my friends told me that she watched a story on discovery. It was something to do with hackers and stuff. Anyway apparently encryption is regulated by government. I don’t know if the same is true in South Africa but apparently there are programs that are considered illegal if government is not provided with a decryption key... Now does that scream big brother or what!

[Dave A]

If there is a back door to encrypted transmissions over the internet, it's more than a privacy issue - it's a serious security problem. But if you look at legislation, the focus is on traceability, not access to the actual content. In fact, I'm not aware of any legislation that allows government agencies back door access to encrypted transmissions.

[insulin]

Now this is it if you don’t want to give your children a mobile here is the perfect excuse!

"Dad hammers Wyo. teen's phone after mega-bill
By Adam Chodak
9News

Dena Christoffersen sent more than 300 texts within an eight-hour period every day at school. (9News)

CHEYENNE — In one month, a Cheyenne teenager sent 10,000 text messages and received about the same — all while her family's plan did not include texting.

That means the family's provider — Verizon — charged them for each incoming and outgoing text message.

The girl's parents, Gregg and Jaylene Christoffersen, thought texting had been disabled, so one can imagine their surprise when they got the monthly phone bill and it asked for $4,756.25.

"It just hit us like a rock, like you're stepping into a bus," Gregg Christoffersen said.

The bill was legit.

Dena Christoffersen, 13, had apparently been sending most of these messages at school. That's more than 300 texts within an eight-hour period every day for the whole month.

Needless to say, it drew attention away from what she should have been doing: paying attention in class.

"She went from A's and B's one semester to F's in two months," Dena's dad said.

Hours after the enormous bill arrived, Gregg Christoffersen took a hammer to his daughter's phone.

He and Jaylene also grounded Dena until the end of school.

"I felt really bad, and I have learned my lesson," Dena said, with her head down.

Since she lost her phone, Dena's grades have gone up, and the texting is down to zero.

As for the phone bill, the family says Verizon has been willing to knock it down to a reasonable level.

The Christoffersens are asking school administrators at Johnson Junior High School to crack down on cellphone use during school.

See the smashed cell phone at 9News.com. "

Ok!!! But my argument is if she had a top up phone then it would have been under control or...........?

[Dave A]

As for the phone bill, the family says Verizon has been willing to knock it down to a reasonable level.

Well done Verizon

[insulin]

give a hand for Verizon That is true valued customer service!

Unlike Vodacom that will happily leave you to pay between two and six thousand Rand just because they can...

[insulin]

"Honest Guy Returns Cell Phone, Gets Arrested

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 6th 2009 at 3:14PM

Returning a Lost Cell Phone Leads to ArrestYou've always been taught that crime doesn't pay, but we were a little distressed to learn that, apparently, honesty doesn't either. Paul Leicester, a college student in Merseyside, UK, was out celebrating his 18th birthday last month when he came across a mobile phone on the ground. Leicester picked up the handset and called the last number dialed, which belonged to a friend of the owner, and told him he'd leave the phone at the local police station.

For some reason, upon arriving at the police station, Leicester was arrested, for "theft by finding," whatever that is. He was held for several hours and DNA samples were taken before the charges were eventually dropped. "I thought I was doing the right thing and had it thrown back in my face," Leicester told the Daily Express last week. "It was a shocking experience."

The arrest has been dropped and the circumstances surrounding it are being reviewed, but it might be a little late to make up for locking up a kid on his birthday. [From: Daily Express]"

So next time I am in the UK and I see a mobile phone I will just walk right past it.

[mailman786]

Scary stuff.
I keep on thinking when I was growing up we did not have the need for cell phones. Sure, times have changed, and most parents let their kids have phones for safety purposes, but there are just too many potential evils out there that outways the positives.