Is a cell phone good for your child?

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Friday January 22, 2010 00:00

First term Form Four, excellent results! Thandi's uncle is very impressed, buys her a very sophisticated cell phone as a present.  Thandi gets so excited, tells her friends about the present and are all happy for her, and even those who were not close to her now envy her and want to befriend her. 

Thandi is now occupied with new technology, which keeps her busy and engaged almost every free minute she gets from her busy schedule at school. She discovers a lot more that the phone can offer, facebook, chatroom, you name it. 

Second term comes around.  Unfortunately results said something different about our good Thandi this time around. Her parents are filled with confusion and frustration, as this is not what they expect from their good girl. 

They go back to school to find what could have happened to Thandi.  Teachers complain about nothing but the frequent calls, sms and surfing that Thandi engages in during her classes. Parents try to guide their little girl, but unfortunately, it was already too late. The damage had been done.

Maybe it is a question that every parent can ask himself or herself.  Does my child need a cell phone now? There have been complaints from teachers about lack of parental guidance on their children about the use of technology and the importance of education.

It has come to light that the use of cell phones to sms, make calls and surf the Internet affects children more than parents could imagine. 

Mmegi took to the streets and talked to a few parents to get an idea of what parents want for their children. This is what they had to say:

Khumoetsile Segole: Cell phones are not good for students.  They play music, games and pay little or absolutely no attention to their academic work.  They are always chatting on the phone with their friends.  My child is not a very brilliant child, but the use of a cell phone has made him worse.  He also wastes a lot of time on television, which does not help him with his academic work. I told him he should at least watch productive programmes like Molemowakgang, Dilomakwati, Temo-thuo and others that could help him make a success of his life.

Goitseone Motladiile: Tlhabologo e e tsileng mo batsading re re refa bana ba rona lerato, re fitlhela re ba diretse phoso.  This is not right because at the end of the day we turn around as parents and start blaming the government for bad behaviour and poor academic results.  There are landlines in our houses if anyone needs to call they can phone while I am there as a guardian.  This will also give me a chance as a parent to know to whom my child is talking to and about the topic. Ivy Motlogelwa: It is wrong to buy a minor or a student a cell phone.  How can they learn with cell phones ringing all the time? The same applies to the television. They have to put these other things aside and concentrate on their schoolwork. 

Tlokweng Junior Secondary School head Othusitse Othusitse confirmed that cell phones are a problem at school.  'Cell phones ring in class and disturb others, they laugh, ridicule others and completely disturb proceedings of the class,' he said.  He also complained that nowadays they cannot discipline students without the interference of parents. 

'Students do not even report matters to us as teachers any more.  Parents come here and ask us about things that we don't know about because instead of students reporting to us, they call their parents,' he said.  He condemns parents for encouraging their children to take cell phones to school. 'They should trust us, if there are any problems we will call them,' he said. However, a former student who completed last year, Leungo Mooketsi, says that she had a cell phone at school and was never derailed by that.  She claims she did not make long conversations with friends during class or even at home.  'There is no problem with the cell phone if people leave it at home when going to school and when they learn not to use it too frequently.  I did well at school and I was not disturbed by anything,' she said.