The headline on this story from e-marketer today sends a chill down my spine: "Kids Dig Mobiles (as in phones) and Money."

According to the new study by Taylor Nelson Sofres, two-thirds of all 6- to 14-year-olds say having a lot of money is very important.

This figure will surely grow, and another: the 30 percent of kids in that age range who already have mobile phones. The TNS study (charts in the article link above) shows that next to calling or text-messaging parents and friends, kids with mobiles use them to: message or call TV shows or contests; and to download games, ring tones, pictures, take photos and use the Internet.

I wonder how much of this occurs during classes, or school "study" periods.

I must be an old fuddy-duddy. All things considered, mobile phones should be banned from schools. Logisitical arrangments can be made without them, and were, for decades.

And parents should make sure their kids spend their spare time reading, pursuing the arts or athletics, or in safe, unstructured play. If only they would.

The plethora of mobile phones - and the materialism of young kids - points to too many single-parent households, or situtations where both parents work away from home and the kids are adrift, in more ways than one.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 21, 2004 08:19 AM

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