BBaker2008_KeitaiKids

45

there is a sense of rudeness in not responding (Kamibeppu, Kiyoko, and Sugiura 2005), because there is no reason not to when it is so easy to respond. This has lead to children everywhere constantly checking their mobile phones even when they know there are no messages. There are also many testimonies of children growing irritable while waiting, as well as becoming completely engrossed in the messaging and waiting process (McVeigh 2003; “Text Messaging more…” 2007; "Children and the Mobile Phone!…” 2007).

This has not only lead to the feeling of panic when not around or forgetting one’s phone somewhere (McVeigh 2003; Vincent 2005), but has also lead to children staying up late to communicate, as well leaving their phones on all night and being awakened at all hours. Research has shown that this is affecting young people’s sleep patterns and having negative affects on their social and academic lives (Harada, Morikuni, Yoshii, Yamashita, and Takeuchi 2002; Van den Bulck 2003; McVeigh 2003). The addictive tendencies and stresses of staying in constant contact are clearly having a negative affect on the mobile youth.

Closely related is the stress felt from the desire for equal contact. This problem occurs when a child does not receive the flow of contact from peers that they desire (Children and the Mobile Phone!…” 2007). Due to the ease of immediate and constant contact, the mobile phone may act as a “comfort blanket”, giving children the feeling that “somebody wants me”, fulfilling a degree of self-esteem that is important to kids (“Text Messaging more…” 2007). Yet, because the “comfort blanket” provides the ability for easy contact, when it does not occur from others the child’s self-esteem and

46

self-image can be devastated.

In Japan, where a majority of research on this topic has taken place, many young people clearly express that a long list of friends in their phone makes them feel good about themselves; “I’m glad, I feel they are all interested in me” (McVeigh 2003). However, this desire to have a long list of friends has also created the phenomenon known as “minna-botchi.”19 This is when an individual has many contacts in their phone, yet actually feels depressed and lonely because they are not receiving the amount of communications from their contacts that they believe they should. Here, the socializing effects of the mobile phone are actually causing a heightened, and most likely, uncalled for inner questioning of one’s likeability that is so important to young people.

A survey of Tokyo high school students found that 48.2% feel a sense of insecurity from not receiving replies to their communications, and that 52.7% feel bad after sending a message because they are worried it could cause negative thoughts about them (Kamibeppu and Sugiura 2005). In Britain, 26% of 11 to 17 year-olds claim they would feel unwanted if they did not receive communications for a whole day; the largest group being 15 to 17 year-old girls, with 42% agreeing (Mobile Youth Report 2006).

While the data is limited, it is clear that the potential for negative feelings about oneself due to the lack of communication via mobile phone is great, no matter the country. This problem is intimately linked with the ease of constant communications that mobile phones provide, and the desire to be accepted and liked that all young people

19 In Japanese “minna” means “everyone” or “many people”, while “botchi” means “alone”.

47

have.

The problems caused and the stress felt through unwanted communications have the potential to be the most dangerous and long lasting negative affects of the mobile phone for youth. The term “unwanted communications” encompasses spam e-mails from companies, contact from strangers, sexual harassment and propositions, and bullying. Arguably, the most prominent form of unwanted communications around the world is bullying.

(2.3.3.1) Bullying

A 2005 survey on mobile bullying found that 14% of English 11 to 19 year olds had been bullied by text messages or calls that they found threatening or caused some form of discomfort. 1 in 10 of the surveyed kids claimed to have been embarrassed or felt threatened by the distribution of photos taken by a camera phone without their consent. 26% of the respondents were not even aware of who the bully was. While 1 in 10 acknowledged that they had bullied others through the mobile phone; half of the time the bullying took place in schools (Putting U in the Picture: Mobile Bullying Survey 2005).

A 2006 survey on Finnish children ages 7 to 15 found a 10% increase, from 25% to 35%, in children who reported that they know of at least one person who had a picture of themselves taken and distributed electronically without permission. Almost 9% believed that the sending of the pictures resulted in problems. 28% of the respondents reported receiving photos or messages with malicious intent. 26% of the kids said they do not tell anyone about their bullying, while the age group with the most bullying was

48

from 10 to 12 (Lapset and Barnen 2006).

In the United States, the mobile phone text-messaging craze has only recently taken over, so hard data on mobile bullying is very limited. However, a comparison of bullying through the Internet is valuable, as the two are intimately similar. A 2005 survey of 11 to 18 year-old Americans found that 78% were the subject of bullying via the mobile phone or the Internet (Carls 2005). In 2007, the Pew Internet and American Life Project ran a survey on cyber-bullying with children age 12 to 17. The results revealed that 32% of all teenagers who use the internet have been subjected to cyberbullying such as: threatening messages, having private messages forwarded without consent, having embarrassing pictures distributed without permission, and having rumors about them spread. It also found that 39% of social network users have been cyber-bullied, versus 22% of non-social network users (Lenhart 2007); showing that as a user grows more involved, more openings for bullying appear. As text-messaging grows more popular in the United States, Internet cyber-bullying is sure to translate over to the mobile phone.

In Japan, the affects of bullying via mobile phone have transcended those of any other country. Until the 1990’s, bullying was accepted as a way to promote group unity in schools. Through bullying, loners and individuals who did not fit in where coerced to “be normal” along with everyone else. Therefore, reporting of bullying by students is still seen as semi-taboo. This combined with the fact that bullying with mobile phones makes it harder for adults to detect, has made hard data on mobile phone bullying scarce (Makino 2007).

49

However, in recent surveys of Hyogo and Osaka prefecture school students, the data showed that only 10% of kids claim to be harassed though e-mails, websites, or blogs (Kubota 2007, “10 Percent of Osaka School Children…” 2008). Yet, there are extreme cases with links to mobile phone bullying occurring quite often. This suggests that there is much more cyber-bullying going-on, and that it is much more intense than the numbers would have one think.

Between September 2006 and March 2007, there were five child suicides where the cause was bullying by schoolmates. Of the incidents, a 12 year-old girl jumped off a building, and a 14 year-old boy hanged himself (“Bullying Japan Leads to Student Suicides” 2007). In July of 2007, an 18 year-old boy killed himself by jumping off of a building, because his classmates posted a naked photo of him on a mobile website and then sent him a constant barrage of emails, via mobile phone, demanding money (Kubota 2007). In March of 2008, a 13 year-old girl in junior high school hanged herself over what the authorities call “…some problems with other children over some mobile phone messages…” (“Schoolgirl Found Hanged…” 2007).

Bullying via mobile phone is having a terrible affect on today’s children across the globe. In some cases, it is causing so much extra stress that children resort to suicide. Unfortunately, the numbers only seem to be rising. Along with those numbers, sexual crimes promoted by mobile phone use also appear to be increasing.

(2.3.3.2) Sex Related Incidents

Once again, the text-messaging boom in the United States is a recent phenomenon; also, Internet access via mobile phone is not as prevalent as other regions

50

of the world due to the lack of high-speed 3G networks. Therefore, when looking at the potential for youth based sexual crimes related to mobile phones, a look at Internet statistics is helpful. 55% of 12 to 17 year-olds use social networking sites, and 47% of them post their photos on the sites, with 58% of those never restricting or only sometimes restricting access. 28% also maintain their own online journal or personal webpage (Teens and Social Media 2007).

This type of interactive Internet use is creating more opportunities for American youths to be contacted by strangers, and in the worst case, sexual predators. Research shows that teens that pursue these types of activities online have a higher chance of attracting interaction from unknown individuals. 7% of online teens have been contacted by a stranger who made them feel scared or uncomfortable, with girls “significantly more likely” to receive this kind of contact (Teens and Online Stranger Contact 2007).

To date, a reported 725,000 American children have been aggressively pursued for sex on the Internet, yet it is claimed that only 3% of all incidents have been reported. More specifically, 20% of online kids have been solicited for sex on the Internet, 25% have been sent pictures of people who are naked or having sex, and 75% are willing to give personal information for goods or services (Roche 2005).

With 67% of social network users having sent or received text messages via mobile phone, compared to just 38% of those not on social networks (Teens and Social Media 2007), it is not a stretch to hypothesize that this kind of uncomfortable contact is already or will cross over to mobile phones. This will be especially true as social

51

networking and blogging grows easier and more common on the mobile-platform, as it has in other countries. Also, when keeping in mind that it is much harder for adults to watch over or restrict kid’s mobile activities than it is with their Internet parallels, the danger increases.

Japanese parents have the same issues to worry about when it comes to their children’s Internet and mobile phone use, however, an increasingly occurring phenomenon is actually the complete opposite of what is happening the in United States. In Japan, the most alarming type of sex related crime taking place through mobile phones is that of young children, the majority being females, pursuing adults to take them on dates, buy them goods, and pay for sex.

According to a 2003 National Police Agency report, 22% of high school females and 18% of males have used “dating sites”, of which 43% of the females and 28% of the males have met their dates. Of the 793 “dating site” crimes in the first half of 2002 (400 registered as a violation of child prostitution or child pornography), 86% of the victims were children; with 48% high school females, and 25% junior high school females. Of the cases where the solicitation method was known 94% were initiated by female students. 29% of these were offers for dating that included sexual intercourse, and 27% were offers for dates in exchange for money. 96% of all the cases and 97% of those registered as child prostitution were setup through mobile phones (Kioka 2003).

In 2007, the amount of “dating site” related crimes reached 1753, with 1100 of the victims registered as children. The number of cases in which a child initiated the contact rose 300% from the previous year. Astoundingly, 2 of the victims were

52

elementary school females (“ …” 2008).

Reports of such cases are appearing daily in newspapers. In March of 2008, a 36 year-old company employee was arrested on child prostitution charges for paying roughly 200 US dollars to have sex with two different 13 year-old junior high school girls on two occasions. He met both of the girls on a “dating site”. The police were tipped off when one of the girl’s mothers found a large amount of money in the girl’s wallet (“24 ” 2008). Again in March of 2008, a 39 yearold company executive was arrested for saving a half-naked picture of a 13 year-old junior high school girl on his mobile phone. The two met through an Internet message board; they remained in contact with, as well as exchanged the nude picture and 25 others via their mobile phones (“ ”

2008).

It is clear that the mobile phone platform is providing children across the world with a new means to get tangled up in one form of sexual crime or another. It would be foolish to believe that before the invention of the Internet and mobile phones these kinds of problems did not occur. However, the mobile phone gives children and sexual predators alike an opportunity to pursue such activities that is very hard to track. And possibly because of the low chance of being caught, the children committing these acts are not questioning whether what they are doing is right or wrong. Also, if they regret what they have done after the fact, it is very hard to confide in someone about such a terrible issue.

53

(2.3.4) The Main Sources of the Negatives

In closing on the negatives of child mobile phone use, it should be made clear that text messaging and the mobile Internet platform are the main sources for many of the terrible occurrences. Linking the lack of regulations with the loss of both responsibility and the sense of the value of money, overuse of the mobile Internet and text-messaging has led children, younger and older, to get into situations that they cannot handle. Here the mobile phone acts as an amplifier for youth to get into financial trouble that is a burden on not only themselves, but also their families. In the most extreme cases this can be so embarrassing that they resort to suicide.

Text messaging is the source of constant communications, addiction, and sleep deprivation, as well. As explained above, the mobile youth cannot get away from, and most of the time, do not want to get away from the phone; as they receive a sense of worth from constant contact. Yet, this creates many personal and social problems, such as the loss of self-esteem from not receiving the amount of desired contact. The mobile Internet and text messaging, also act as gateways to new sources of bullying and sexual related incidents. While unfortunately these problems have been occurring long before the development of mobile phones, the mobile phone provides a means for these problems to occur unnoticed and more often.

It should be apparent that the original feature of a phone, voice communication, is not the cause for concern for any of the risks of child mobile phone use. It is nearly impossible to rack up expensive bills that compare to those of data use, with many operators offering unlimited minute or free time packages. Also, the sense of

54

immediacy that comes with text messaging does not translate to voice communications, and thus addiction and sleep deprivation do not occur from it. As for bullying and sexual contact, voice communication leaves no opportunity for an individual to reach out to unknown or unregistered people in any of the ways that the mobile Internet does. With the proper restrictions for text messaging and the mobile Internet, as well as proper training of their use, it is possible that many of the negatives of child mobile phone use could be wiped out.