Hi-tech Bullies

[Rheghead]

Sky news are currently doing a spot on bullying using a mobile phone. They also claim that the victims do not know their attacker.

I am not the biggest lover of mobile phones, but I know you can set them up to accept only non 141 numbers and any text message has the return number attached. Also, you have to register the owner's name of the mobile when it is purchased.

Verbal bullying cases on the playground understandably suffer from a lack of evidence, but when mobile phones are involved surely this is a case of when too much evidence of who the perpetrator is available?

[katarina]

I heard this on the TV this morning. Earlier I read an article where a girl committed suicide and he parents blamed the bullying she was getting over her phone. I must admit to being a wee bit confused. Surely if it was bad enough to make the girl feel suicidal, there is a simple somlution. Throw the dam thing away!
If its a safety measure get another, and only the parents hold the number.

[squidge]

Im with you on this Katarina - throw the thing away.

No child under the age of 14 regularly needs to use a mobile phone - they might need one on odd occasions but they dont need one for using willy nilly. Id like to know who my children are speaking to and texting and who is texting them back. Parents should regularly check their childrens moboile phones and not allow a culture of secrecy to grow up around them. No child should be committing suicide over a text message

[dragonfly]

whats also worrying is the "happy slapping" craze that seems to be going on, where a group of kids/teens gang up on an innocent victim while one of the group videos their violent attack on their phone and then send the video around showing off or boasting about their conquest

Something is not quite right in the minds of SOME of todays youths :eyes

[2little2late]

Better still, ban ALL mobile phones. After all the world managed quite well before they were invented.

[linzy222]

I don't understand this coz u can't send a msg with 141 in front of it, so the person getting the threats would have the number, so why not show the police?

Even if u delete the msg's the police can still retrieve them

[katarina]

whats also worrying is the "happy slapping" craze that seems to be going on, where a group of kids/teens gang up on an innocent victim while one of the group videos their violent attack on their phone and then send the video around showing off or boasting about their conquest

Something is not quite right in the minds of SOME of todays youths :eyes

Maybe camera phones should be licenced so that no one under the age of 18 is allowed to use one - could that be the answer?
Now i dare some one to say that would be a breach of human rights!

[Donnie]

Also, you have to register the owner's name of the mobile when it is purchased.


That would only be for contract phones but not PAYG. You could have numerous sim cards and send people messages and they'd have no idea who they are coming from. O2 send out free PAYG sim cards, I've had 6 sent to me in the last month. That's 6 anonymous numbers I could send messages/make calls from.

[Drutt]

Now i dare some one to say that would be a breach of human rights!
Katarina, you appear to have a big hang-up about the Human Rights Act. It's not the boogie man out to get you, you know.

Perhaps you could try just reading it (http://www.pfc.org.uk/legal/hra98.htm), and then you wouldn't have to dismiss those of us who've ever dared mentioned it as loony liberals.

[katarina]

Hey, I'm a big believer of human rights myself, I'll have you know. But sometimes peeps take it a tad too far.

[scorrie]

whats also worrying is the "happy slapping" craze that seems to be going on, where a group of kids/teens gang up on an innocent victim while one of the group videos their violent attack on their phone and then send the video around showing off or boasting about their conquest

Something is not quite right in the minds of SOME of todays youths :eyes

The kids nowadays get far too much far too soon. It is all handed to them on a plate and they leave school with no concept of working in order to obtain things.

The mobile phone is basically a novelty item, boasting features that are pretty much pointless and pretty much low quality compared to the dedicated equipment that performs the said functions.

Listening to the typical "conversation" between young mobile phone users reveals topics of the utmost banality and I wonder how much money is spent on downloading bontempi quality "Choons" (didn't they used to help you breath more easily)

You hear the usual "peace of mind in knowing where the kids are" cited by parents as a reason for doling out hundreds of pounds on a mobile phone for junior but how many kids really need phones with cameras, videos etc built in? More to the truth of it is the "Milk, Lemonade, Chocolate" factor of having the best phone and not letting junior be teased for having one of those Del Boy specials swung over his shoulder.

More worrying is the amount of Pornography that is just a text message or more away. Junior can download XXX material to his phone and subscribe to satellite porn channels via his "safety device" He can also text the "babes" on the late night sleaze channels on Sky. Apparently one of their "punters" claimed to be 12 years old. It may have been a joke but who knows?

It's the technology parenting era. Mum and Dad hit the pubs and clubs and let TV, MTV, Playstation and the Mobile do the babysitting. Sadly, these "babysitters" are awash with violence and sleaze. No wonder something is not right in the minds of some of our youths!!

[2little2late]

Well said!
I couldn't have put it better myself.

[katarina]

Yes, well said Scorrie!

[~~Tides~~]

If you are ever getting bullied, the "Lar chap, il get ma third cousin on yee" deesite approach always seems to work. :eyes

[linzy222]

Also, you have to register the owner's name of the mobile when it is purchased.


That would only be for contract phones but not PAYG. You could have numerous sim cards and send people messages and they'd have no idea who they are coming from. O2 send out free PAYG sim cards, I've had 6 sent to me in the last month. That's 6 anonymous numbers I could send messages/make calls from.

That is sooo true and u don't even register them 1st before u can use it, but then again they could give false addresses 2

[Donnie]

The kids nowadays get far too much far too soon. It is all handed to them on a plate and they leave school with no concept of working in order to obtain things.


My Granda said the same about your generation. Times are changing old man, you just have to get used to it.

[scorrie]

The kids nowadays get far too much far too soon. It is all handed to them on a plate and they leave school with no concept of working in order to obtain things.


My Granda said the same about your generation. Times are changing old man, you just have to get used to it.

Well NostroDonniemus, exactly which generation do you think I come from? I am far from being an old man, I can tell you that.

It is fairly obvious that the standard of living has increased with each generation but this past one has seen an acceleration of disposable income and, more importantly, easy access to borrowed money. Debt is the biggest growth area in Caithness and elsewhere. I somehow doubt your Granda foresaw a day where the Nick Toons channel on Sky Tv was riddled with adverts for Osheit Finance and many others willing to, effectively, give loans to people already up to necks in debt. I also doubt he would have predicted a day where drugs were sold in school and where youngsters had such easy access to pornography, remember there is no "top shelf" on junior's mobile.

There seems to be this attitude amongst some people that is "Oh let the kids enjoy themselves" or "we are only trying to give them the things we never had ourselves" Well good luck to them but lets have less of the tut tutting and faux surprise at reading of someone found dead with a syringe in their arm, some young girl found selling herself for drugs money or some youngster found with Gary Glitter material on their laptop!!

The times they are a changing and if you think it is for the better you should consider Colleen Nolan's bonus incentive for her 16 year old son. Very liberal of her to reward his "hard" endeavours at school with an all expenses paid trip to Amsterdam so that he can visit a prostitute. And to think I was 20 before I could afford to buy my first bike and that wasn't a penny farthing either young man!!

Good luck with your own exams Donnie, hope Santa is good to you too, although I suspect he might need more wrapping paper this year!!

[squidge]

Bringing children up to know the value of money is difficult in todays society Scorrie i agree with you. And not simply the value of money but to value other things that dont cost money - like a day spent in the park. Some kids seem to think that if things dont cost money they arent worth doing.

The mobile thing is worrying. There was a programme on TV short ago about the WAP chat facility where people can access live chat in speed dating things. Although you have to be 18 in theory these things are full of youngsters - it was quite shocking. the names of some of the individuals used made it quite clear they were looking for youngsters - scary. I would disable any WAP facility on any youngsters phone after watching that

[katarina]

I'm with you on that squidge. However if they do that, there will be another way - technology is finding new strengths all the time. Great stuff, but open to abuse.