Two Cents
03-14-2002, 08:23 AM
Read third paragraph from bottom for short version...
Teenagers Find True Calling; Huge Increase Seen In Cell Phone Use
By Lisa Frazier Page
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 14, 2002; Page B05
Angel Jennings doesn't need a computer to access the Internet, read the news of the day or play an electronic game. The 17-year-old just pulls out her cell phone.
Jennings and her teenage peers, the fastest-growing segment of cell phone users in the country, are driving much of the technology available on wireless phones today: instant messaging, customized ring tones, Internet access -- all aimed at satisfying the tastes of an easily bored, computer-savvy generation that grew up with the microchip.
"I like the fact that I have the Internet," Jennings said. "I can read movie reviews right on my phone."
Jennings, a junior at Duval High School in Lanham, bought the slim, black Sprint Motorola a year ago to replace a simple, prepaid model her mother gave her as a gift when she was 15. And, since the teenager was paying, she loaded her new phone with the latest features.
Studies show that more than one-third of teenagers already have cell phones and that nearly 70 percent of them will own one in just three years. If those predictions come true, the percentage of teenagers with cell phones will be greater than that of any other group in the general population by 2005.
Parents, ever eager to keep track of their teenagers, are partly responsible for the trend. And since Sept. 11, anxious parents are buying cell phones for their children even earlier, said Michael Wood, a spokesman for Teenage Research Unlimited, a marketing research firm based in Northbrook, Ill.
Before Sept. 11, driving age was the most common threshold parents set to buy cell phones for their teenagers, Wood said.
"But now it seems the age has dropped down to entering high school," he said.
Wireless companies woo parents by pitching plans that allow customers to pay a few extra dollars to add a phone that shares minutes with an existing account. The companies also offer prepaid plans that allow parents to buy a set amount of minutes to prevent teenagers from ringing up huge phone bills.
Garnett Jennings, Angel Jennings's mother, also gave a cell phone to her younger daughter, who at age 10 walks home from school. Jennings said she buys 10 minutes of talk time for $7.99 every two weeks, just enough for her daughter to call as she begins the daily walk home from school.
But James Katz, a professor of communications at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., who has studied cell phone usage for more than a decade, said the phones may give parents a false sense of security.
Focus groups and in-depth interviews have shown that parents who know they will be able to contact their children often allow them to venture farther away than otherwise would have been allowed, said Katz.
"The ironic and often unintended consequence of the desire to increase the safety of the teens is they are actually allowed to take greater risks," said Katz. "The mobile phone is like an anesthetic, reducing parents' concerns. Meanwhile, it allows the teen to go out and have a lot more fun and get into a lot more trouble."
Teenagers say their cell phones give them easy access to their friends. They can buy interchangeable face plates to match their ever-changing wardrobes and customize the sounds a phone makes when it rings so they will know whether it's daddy or boyfriend calling.
An argument last week between a troubled teenager and her father in Landover about a cell phone ended in the man's slaying. Charlene P. Todd, 14, was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly stabbing her father during a dispute over his cell phone.
Teenage Research Unlimited's study of 2,000 teenagers ages 12 to 19 in October 2001 found that 37 percent of today's teens have cell phones. And 22 percent of them said they planned to purchase one in the next year.
An October 2000 survey of 3,500 households with cell phones found that 68 percent of youths and teenagers will have cell phones by 2005 -- a greater percentage than any other age group, according to the Yankee Group, a wireless, Internet and communications research firm.
Teenagers Find True Calling; Huge Increase Seen In Cell Phone Use
By Lisa Frazier Page
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 14, 2002; Page B05
Angel Jennings doesn't need a computer to access the Internet, read the news of the day or play an electronic game. The 17-year-old just pulls out her cell phone.
Jennings and her teenage peers, the fastest-growing segment of cell phone users in the country, are driving much of the technology available on wireless phones today: instant messaging, customized ring tones, Internet access -- all aimed at satisfying the tastes of an easily bored, computer-savvy generation that grew up with the microchip.
"I like the fact that I have the Internet," Jennings said. "I can read movie reviews right on my phone."
Jennings, a junior at Duval High School in Lanham, bought the slim, black Sprint Motorola a year ago to replace a simple, prepaid model her mother gave her as a gift when she was 15. And, since the teenager was paying, she loaded her new phone with the latest features.
Studies show that more than one-third of teenagers already have cell phones and that nearly 70 percent of them will own one in just three years. If those predictions come true, the percentage of teenagers with cell phones will be greater than that of any other group in the general population by 2005.
Parents, ever eager to keep track of their teenagers, are partly responsible for the trend. And since Sept. 11, anxious parents are buying cell phones for their children even earlier, said Michael Wood, a spokesman for Teenage Research Unlimited, a marketing research firm based in Northbrook, Ill.
Before Sept. 11, driving age was the most common threshold parents set to buy cell phones for their teenagers, Wood said.
"But now it seems the age has dropped down to entering high school," he said.
Wireless companies woo parents by pitching plans that allow customers to pay a few extra dollars to add a phone that shares minutes with an existing account. The companies also offer prepaid plans that allow parents to buy a set amount of minutes to prevent teenagers from ringing up huge phone bills.
Garnett Jennings, Angel Jennings's mother, also gave a cell phone to her younger daughter, who at age 10 walks home from school. Jennings said she buys 10 minutes of talk time for $7.99 every two weeks, just enough for her daughter to call as she begins the daily walk home from school.
But James Katz, a professor of communications at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., who has studied cell phone usage for more than a decade, said the phones may give parents a false sense of security.
Focus groups and in-depth interviews have shown that parents who know they will be able to contact their children often allow them to venture farther away than otherwise would have been allowed, said Katz.
"The ironic and often unintended consequence of the desire to increase the safety of the teens is they are actually allowed to take greater risks," said Katz. "The mobile phone is like an anesthetic, reducing parents' concerns. Meanwhile, it allows the teen to go out and have a lot more fun and get into a lot more trouble."
Teenagers say their cell phones give them easy access to their friends. They can buy interchangeable face plates to match their ever-changing wardrobes and customize the sounds a phone makes when it rings so they will know whether it's daddy or boyfriend calling.
An argument last week between a troubled teenager and her father in Landover about a cell phone ended in the man's slaying. Charlene P. Todd, 14, was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly stabbing her father during a dispute over his cell phone.
Teenage Research Unlimited's study of 2,000 teenagers ages 12 to 19 in October 2001 found that 37 percent of today's teens have cell phones. And 22 percent of them said they planned to purchase one in the next year.
An October 2000 survey of 3,500 households with cell phones found that 68 percent of youths and teenagers will have cell phones by 2005 -- a greater percentage than any other age group, according to the Yankee Group, a wireless, Internet and communications research firm.