HomeAsia society Index
(5)
|
Keeping up with the phones-es? I'm not c%l w/ th@ Terrible news was delivered to an Asian men's
discussion group I belong to. "Some idiot father bought a mobile
phone for his eight-year-old daughter. So now my daughter says she needs
one too," spluttered one red-faced, hyperventilating dad (okay, it
was me).
The other guys in the group, which meets weekly in the city's business
district, murmured in sympathy. "How totally irresponsible,"
they agreed.
Except for one. "Er. Actually, it was probably me," said a
50-something Malaysian banker sitting opposite me." I bought one for
my little girl. I didn't realize it would make problems for you."
Peer pressure is a dreadful thing. One minute my daughter's biggest
ambition in life was to have a Hello Kitty eraser, and the next she is
doing price comparisons on tri-band receivers at telecom sites on the
internet.
The downward spread of mobile phones to teenyboppers is causing
problems all over Asia. Primary schools from Colombo to Kowloon are
constantly interrupted by the likes of Little Jin- Jin taking calls from
knee-high friends who wish to exchange digital photos of their Hello Kitty
erasers.
Organizers of a poetry competition for schoolchildren in East Asia
received hundreds of entries beamed in on mobile phones.
"We had to spend hours trying to translate text-talk shorthand
before choosing the winners," said one of the judges.
"The poetry was full of phrases like" r u c%l w/ th@"
(Are you cool with that?)
Abhorrence of the devices stretches from the lowest of the low (ie, me)
to the most powerful man in the solar system. George W Bush hates the
things. At one press conference, he got mad because the constant ringing
made him lose the logical thread of his comments - which, let's face it,
were pretty weak to start with. If he toured Asia, he would have the same
problem visiting kindergartens.
The upshot of all this was that your humble narrator had a detailed
discussion with his daughter about why she could not have her own cell
phone, using a variety of carefully argued arguments on the lines of
"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO," and "Because I said so."
The following day, a friend who works for a telecoms firm gave me a new
phone. What to do with the old one. Bin it?
"I'll have it," my daughter said.
Your columnist explained that the cost of a cell phone was not the
price of the handset, but the monthly payments. It took her no time at all
to discover that thanks to unfettered competition, the monthly charge had
plummeted to the same level as her pocket money.
"I'll pay for it, Daddy," she said. I no longer had grounds
on which to refuse. The thing was handed over.
The following week, this writer attended the men's discussion group
looking sheepish, and revealed that he had joined the shameful ranks of
idiot fathers of phone-carrying eight-year- olds.
And that's not the end of it. A reader informed me that phone makers
have developed a mobile phone that fits on a dog collar and enables owners
to be able to use electronic positioning signals to locate their wandering
pets.
My dog has not yet asked for his own mobile phone.
But one of these days, I am sure I will find him comparison-shopping on
the internet, and then there will be trouble. If your youngster has a
mobile phone, tell our columnist via www.vittachi.com 2008-04-26 |
|
|
|
More story |
|
.Pop Goes the Easel |
Copyright © SHUIMOHUA GALLERY All Rights Reserved