14 DAY TRIAL // Yep, it's official! Parental control for mobile phones! I guess teens are over-joyed with this, but it's only natural for the bill-payer to have some control over what they pay for.
AT&T has released a web-based feature (that costs about $5) that will allow parents to stay in touch with their children while controlling their (the kids') mobile phone use. This is all for the children's benefit. With this new gizmo, mom and dad can limit the period of time when the phone is used, how many minutes the teen can talk per month and how many text messages he/she can send. This feature may also filter Internet access and block calls from certain numbers.
It's a pretty good measure to deploy if you want to have better control of your child, but it does have its disadvantages. For one thing, if you do not allow your kid to have access to his phone during his school hours and an emergency happens, he can't call anyone. Now, that is rather nasty, is it not? So, like all restrictions parents apply on children, it should be used with care.
"Children have more tools to communicate than ever before and need to learn to use them responsibly," said Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute. "AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless gives parents the ability to limit their children's use of text messages and teach them to use their phones more responsibly. Just as important, parents can sensibly control their children's wireless access and protect their children from unwanted calls and messages."
But is this in some way infringing any rights that the kids might have? I don't think so, since they're not paying for the bill. This is more of a protection method than a coercive one. If you wish to learn more about this, you may visit this website.