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The Online Mom provides internet technology advice and information to help parents protect their kids, encourage responsible behavior and safely harness the power of technology in the new digital world. Social networking, photo sharing, video games, IM & texting, internet security, cyberbullying, educational resources, the latest on tech hardware, gadgets and software for kids 3-8, tweens and teens, and more.
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Cell Phones & Pagers
 In 1987, one million Americans used cell phones. Now, it's over 255 million: that's 84% of us. When a
technology's that commonplace, it's easy to take it for granted. But modern cellphones - and the networks
they run on - are still pretty miraculous.
Cellphones are, basically, radios. But they're not just "any" radio. Check out what has to happen when you
make a call. First, your cellphone searches dozens of control channels to find the cellular tower in your
neighborhood with the best signal. (Maybe it's a "real" tower. Maybe it's an antenna mounted on a building.
Maybe it's one of those tall "fake trees" that have been sprouting up everywhere.)
Once your cellphone finds a good signal, it sends its own unique ID to that cellular tower, along with the
number you've dialed. In a fraction of a second, your base station "asks" your cellphone provider's computers
if you're a legitimate, paying customer. If you are, the base station tells your cellphone which channel you
can use for your conversation. Your cellphone switches to that channel, and your call begins. Then, if you're
on the move, your cellphone and cellular tower must work together to "hand over" your call between cell sites,
without you even noticing. That means someone's had to calculate exactly how many cellular towers are needed
to provide just enough overlap - without adding too many, wasting money, and causing extra interference.
Beyond the call
That's pretty fancy choreography. It takes plenty of sophisticated electronics to build a tiny cellphone which
can reliably do that dance. But, of course, that's not all today's cellphones do. Not by a long shot. Many of
today's cellphones include:
Built-in digital cameras: not as high-quality as "real" digital cameras, but capable of taking an image and instantly
sending it to friends or family.
Text messaging: for sending brief, abbreviated messages to friends, family, or groups, and to receive customized
alerts. (48,000,000,000 text messages were sent in December 2007 alone: that's 1.6 billion per day, and it's 157%
more than were sent in the U.S. just one year before.)
Internet and data services, up to and including the Apple iPhone's full-fledged Internet connections
Of course, some of these services have their own (sometimes surprisingly high) usage fees. That's one reason your
carrier will be happy to subsidize the cost of your slick, stylish new phone - if you commit to a long-term
contract. They know you'll make it up in monthly charges, per-minute and texting charges, and so forth. As a
result, cellphone shopping often starts out with choosing a carrier and a service plan, not the phone itself.
(Two potential solutions: new flat rate plans, and prepaid services that don't allow usage beyond the payments
you've made in advance.)
Children and cellphones: what to watch out for
As a parent, keep in mind that cellphones, like any technology, have potential downsides. You need to monitor
what your child's doing with his or her cellphone, just as you would with their Internet connection.
For one thing, your child's cellphone may very well have its own Internet connection. For another, some young
people increasingly appear to show symptoms of "addiction" to cellphones. (In particular, one Australian study
alleges that text messaging is equivalent in addictiveness to cigarette smoking, though nobody's claimed it
causes lung cancer!)
Third, cellphones are being utilized as a new avenue for cyberbullying. And, fourth, according to the Pew
Internet & American Life Project, 39% of young cellphone users say they're "not always truthful" about where
they are when they're on the phone. (Add-on services like Sprint's Family Locator and Verizon's Chaperone can
help a little with that, but they're obviously no substitute for trust, honesty, boundaries, and ground rules!)
How many cell phones were sold in the U.S. in 2007?
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