Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
CHILDREN NEED PHONES THAT
ARE DESIGNED FOR THEM
They are able to carry out their functions and are
able to learn the features and facilities.
Being able to use something is not, however,
the same as making things usable or creating a
good user experience. What has happened in the
mobile phone industry is that technologies, initially
proposed for adults, have been altered in some way
for the teenage user based on the general assump-
tion that teenagers are not significantly different
from adults and that they have similar needs and
characteristics. Thus, there are pink and purple
phones, phones with more sophisticated teen
friendly games and phones with a greater focus on
music technology than the adult population might
have required. In addition, some mobile service
providers have teen focused packages that make
texting easy and cheap and feature tariff systems
that particularly suit teen use.
It would be possible for the mobile phone indus-
try to start to focus on children simply by porting
down similar modifications as these—these would
not require a re-think of the basic technology—
phones could be made in bright primary colours
(if that was sensible), younger games could be
included and service providers could think (and
then provide) what children would want.
The argument therefore, in this article is that,
given the variations of use, the physical and social
differences, and the particular needs of parents
and children, children (and in this case the term
is used to more specifically refer to those 11 and
under) need different technologies than adults and
young teens. As Colbert, (2005) writes '[there is
a need].. to identify different user groups, and
outline their distinctive characteristics. These
characteristics reflect differences in the kinds of
task that each group performs, the contexts in
which they perform these tasks, and the quali-
ties of use that they value. Having characterized
distinct groups, it is then possible for design to
target one group or another.'
The counter argument to the suggestion that
children need special designs for phones is that
they don't need differently designed technologies,
that technology can be created to suit all, and that
the current range of phones are well designed for
the tasks that children want to carry out. There is
considerable evidence for this 'stay as it is and
let the children adapt' assumption. In general
children use adult versions of television remote
controls, they use the same house phone as the
other householders; they are able to operate the
same controls, the same PC technology and the
same music technology as adults. It is certainly the
case that these static, generally low risk, mainly
simple, technologies can all be easily appropriated
and understood by children—that does not imply
that the same is true for mobile phone technol-
ogy which is complex, mobile and which, if used
incorrectly, may incur risks to the child.
It is certainly possible to design technology
to be almost universally useful. The technologies
outlined in the previous paragraph are all designed
for almost universal use. Many other technologies
exist that are universally usable. Children are able
to use mobile phones that are designed for adults.
SPECIAL PHONES FOR
CHILDREN—THE CASE FOR
Should children have their own technologies?
There is a strong case for children being consid-
ered as significantly more different from older
teens than older teens are from adults in which
case simply modifying phones around the edges
is not enough. Children have different needs,
goals and motivations than adults (Read, 2005);
for instance, they are unlikely to be working, they
are unlikely to be financially independent, they
are not normally task driven! Their abilities to
deal with many of the activities associated with
mobile phone use are limited; for example, in
many countries, especially those using the Eng-
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