BBaker2008_KeitaiKids

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(5)

Paths to Safety and Success

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(5.1) Introduction

For the conclusion of this paper, it was planned to use the acquired survey data in order to make suggestions for the future to the players in the mobile phone industry. Yet, even without the desired survey data, a more than ample amount of research has taken place for this paper that can be used to conclude with suggestions for the future to three main groups: the mobile operators and their allies, the competitors, and the watch groups and researchers.

Society, corporations, and parents all have reasons for pushing mobile phones so intensely on child. Whether it is for profit or for wellbeing, there are other paths for achieving their goals while maintaining the epitome of safety for children. The security companies that have become new competitors to mobile phone operators (in the child market) offer one new path. It may not mean the end to the child mobile phone market, but it does give one more options for consideration.

While the future is not clear, there are definite tracks for the three groups to take that will satisfy the needs of society, corporations, and parents; all while aiming to improve the lives of children and lower the risks that come with them using mobile phones. The suggestions that follow, attempt to guide the groups on their way to achieving this goal.

(5.2) The Reasons Behind the Push for Mobile Phones

Now that the affects of intense marketing on children, as well as the negatives of youth mobile phone use have been defined, even without survey data it is clear that companies, such as Bandai, hold a great power over today’s youth. They also bear the

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responsibility of potentially implementing many negative aspects into young children’s lives by actively introducing them to mobile phones at such young ages.

The Japanese super hero television programs created by Bandai promote in detail all the fun and fantastic abilities of mobile phones, and do not mention any of the horrible side affects that occur regularly around the world. Without a single word of caution or display of guidelines for mobile use, the programs display images of the mobile phone’s great power to kids, every week, year after year. As examined above, children at the viewing age of these programs will believe what they see, and desire to use the products they are being sold. Because they are young children, they will not second guess the negative nature of mobile phones, and they have the great potential to become engrossed in mobile phone use and the fun positives that the platform offers. This will only lead them to be more susceptible to the tragic side of mobile phone use, as they are not aware of or do not believe in it’s existence.

Therefore, we must ask ourselves as a society, as corporations, as parents: Why are we pushing mobile phones on children so intensely?

The answer from society is obvious. Mobile phones have become an everyday aspect and “necessity” in the lives of billions of people around the world. It is only natural for something so deeply permeated in any society to gradually reach out to all cohorts. The mobile phone is convenient, fun, and exciting. It is only natural that youngsters should be a part of such a life and world altering invention, as they will be the ones to use it the longest and continue evolving it’s uses for decades.

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For corporations the answer is obvious as well. Money. With almost every single person in the world desiring to own at least one mobile phone, there is an infinite potential for profit through many different paths, such as digital media. Children offer not only the easiest target, as they are uniquely open to marketing tactics, they also offer a whole lifetime of purchases and recommendations to others. In the mind of a businessman there is absolutely no reason not to aim the most popular product in the world, as well as its services, at the cohort that is the trendiest and has the highest consumption rate.

Parents have the simplest and most easily excused answer. They want their children to be safe. In today’s day and age, the biggest concern on a parent’s mind is the safety of their children; the mobile phone provides that sense of safety they desire. Parents and children can contact each other at anytime and anyplace. Parents also know that if their child is in danger, alarms will sound and the right people will be notified; this is very calming to the modern parent who knows the dangers of today’s society. With the most advanced handsets parents can even check exactly where their child is thanks to GPS technology. It is understandable why millions of parents across the globe ignore the risks of youth mobile use for the peace of mind that their child is “safe”.

(5.3) The Competitors of Mobile Phone Operators

No matter the cohort, no matter the reasons, the amount of danger we as a world are succumbing our children to through pushing mobile phones on them is inexcusable. Put crudely, convenience, profits, and safety are the reason why children are being put through the gauntlet of dangers that are fixed to mobile phone use. There must be other,

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better ways for society, corporations, and parents to achieve their goals without the added negatives. Fortunately, there are companies already working on solutions.

Secom was the first security company in Japan, and it provides services to the largest number of corporate and individual clients in the country. The company operates in 12 different countries. Its main business involves installing various sensors in a home to detect intrusions, fires, medical emergencies, etc. The sensors alert one of 2,200 emergency centers nationwide, from which personnel are dispatched immediately, 24 hours a day. Secom even offers such services as CCTV and safes (“Secom” 2008).

In relation to this paper, Secom’s most interesting service and device is called Coco-Secom43. In Japanese, this literally means, “Here-Secom”. The device itself is a small GPS unit that uses satellites and cellular telephone base stations to pinpoint a location with an accuracy of 5 to 10 meters. If the device is activated, authorized adults are notified and security personnel are dispatched from the emergency centers.

Secom is actively marketing this device as a replacement for mobile phones for children. A section of the company website, called SecomTV44, explains the dangers of mobile phones for kids in a quick 2 minute presentation. It mentions the types of dangerous mobile Internet websites, with emphasis on “dating sites”. It explains that 80% of mobile phone owning children in Japan have accessed the sites, and that incidents through the sites have risen 17% from 2000 to 2005. It also warns of mobile phone bullying and the harmful effects this has on a child’s mental wellbeing. Toward the end, it urges parents to teach their children proper mobile phone use and to use

43See #36 in appendix.

44See #37 in appendix.

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filtering software. It concludes by asking parents to consider if their children really need a mobile phone to be safe. The website also offers links to information on the dangers of mobile phones, including the “Tokyo Metropolitan Police Kids and Mobile Phone Site”, as well as the benefits of the Coco-Secom system (“SecomTV” 2008).

Secom, as a company and member of society, has truly done its homework. It understands the problems that mobile phones are creating for children, and has set out to create a better solution. On top of that, it has assembled a wealth of information for parents to review conveniently and quickly. Of course, on the business side of things, this is in order to strengthen the selling point of its product. Yet, its product may prove to be a far safer device for children to have. At the least, Secom is informing parents and allowing them to make more knowledgeable decisions for their children; something the mobile phone companies certainly are not doing.

The home electronics manufacturer, Hitachi, is another company working on solutions to the child mobile phone use problem. The company’s vision is to create towns and cities where people can live with peace of mind (“ ” 2008). As a part of this, they are offering office building and school security products and solutions that are supported by control and response centers. The setup is very similar to that of Secom.

The school area security system involves a small GPS device45 that can be worn around the neck or put in a bag, much like the Coco-Secom. When a child activates the device, an alarm is activated and their registered contact is informed via a message to

45 See #38 in appendix.

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their mobile phone or PC. The customer service center watches over the transactions. If the registered contact cannot assist in time or cannot receive the message, the service center informs a secondary contact, most likely a security company, to handle the situation. The device can also be set to automatically inform the registered contact when the child enters/leaves their house, and when they enter/leave their school grounds.

The school area security system also involves school-wide alarms for children to use in case of intruders and other emergencies. Information including where the alarm was activated is immediately sent to a security station in the school. Teachers can be equipped with portable devices in various shapes that do the same, such as pendants and watches. A child’s personal device can be linked with the system as well. Parents also have the option to check where their child is at any moment via mobile phone or PC (“School Security System” 2008).

Hitachi has a very interesting commercial46 to market this new business. It shows a little boy leave school, and as he makes his way home men in dark suits with sunglasses and ear radios appear and confirm his location. When the boy leaves school and gets home, his mother is alerted through her mobile phone. During the commercial the narrator explains how Hitachi’s products and services allow one to always watch over their child no matter where he or she is. It ends with the catch copy, “Let’s make it! A safe and livable city.”

Hitachi is another company, like Secom, that understands society’s fears about child safety and the dangers mobile phones can create. While the company does not go

46 See #39 in appendix

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straight out and market directly against child mobile phones,47 it is apparent that this is the market it is aiming for. Without any of the negatives, Hitachi’s service gives schools, parents, and children alike, all the safety features of a mobile phone, plus more. Hitachi certainly has the potential to give the mobile phone operators a run for their money.

(5.4) The Suggestions for the Future

The broad themes of the current state of child mobile phone use and its effects, the power marketing has over children, the influence companies such as Bandai may have, and how rivals are competing against the child mobile phone use craze have now been explained in detail. With this, suggestions on how to move forward appear for three different groups: mobile operators and their allies (i.e. – Bandai), competitors of mobile operators, and watch groups and researchers. While gaps in knowledge in relation to the exact affects Japanese super hero television programs have on children’s perception of mobile phones still need to be filled, the following suggestions hold strong with or without the missing data.

(5.4.1) The Mobile Operators and their Allies

One thing that the mobile operators and their allies must do is to find out if the type of product placement found in Japanese super hero television programs actually works or not. If it is found to be effective, there are many new business aspects to consider, such as: greater investment in and broadening of scope of this type of product placement; new types of content created for mobile phones that capitalize on this theme; new products and services that capitalize on giving people greater feelings of self-

47 At the time this thesis was written.

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efficacy by using mobile phones; and even replica phones from the programs that actually act as real mobile phones.

If this type of product placement is found to not have a significant affect, it is suggested that mobile operators and their allies: halt investment in this kind of product placement of mobile phones in super hero shows; research into what can help increase involvement with, as well as the perception of increased self-efficacy received from mobile phones for youths; develop new products and services that give a greater sense of self-efficacy through using a mobile phone; and implement the use of real mobile phones within hero shows, as the connection between the hero’s phones and real world handsets may be lost.

Another suggestion for these companies is that they do more than just promote the safety features of their child-oriented mobile phones. Many people around the world are aware of the dangers that coincide with children using mobile phones. By blatantly promoting only the “safety features” of their products and not acknowledging the negatives, the companies are inherently treating their customers as stupid or ignorant individuals. At the moment, the mobile operators have a positive image in relation to child safety. However, as the issue of the dangers of child mobile phone use grows more prominent, this strategy is sure to backfire as parents question why they were being lied to. The mobile phone operators and their allies need to show to the public that they are aware of the problems and want to help. Otherwise, their image and a good part of their business could be corrupted.

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One way to do this would be to sponsor mobile phone training and ethics programs with schools. Upon research of local elementary schools for this paper, it was found that parents of young children are quite distrusting of mobile phones. Also, employees of schools expressed their desire to hold training classes for their students. If the mobile operators and their allies could work with schools to hold such programs, they could discuss with students, parents, and teachers not only the benefits, but also the negatives and how they are working to prevent them. Parents would grow more informed on what handsets are proper for children, as well as how to manage their children’s use. Children could also be taught how to avoid the dangers and also the effects of cyber-bullying, etc. Not only would the companies be creating a better image for themselves, and thus expanding business, they would also be actively wiping out the occurrence of many of the negatives associated with their product.

Another way to do so would be to provide quick mobile phone ethics and training lessons during commercial segments or at the end of the super hero television programs. Considering the viewers of the shows are the market the companies are implementing the product placement for, this would be the most direct way to get information across. At the end of many episodes of Bandai’s programs there are usually drawings and contests for children to win related goods, such as CDs with the programs theme music. Contests that required the children to watch the quick information segments and send in answers or their own ideas on mobile phone safety could be an effective way to get kids to pay attention to the training, and therefore grow more involved with mobile phones and their correct usage. Parents that watch the programs