TMCnet News
EDITORIAL: A ringtone for teens only(Herald, The (Rock Hill, SC) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jun. 20--If baby boomers hadn't listened to so much rock 'n' roll at maximum volume -- which their parents warned them about -- maybe they could hear their kids' cell-phone ringtones today. There is a certain justice in the rising popularity of a ringtone that most teen-agers can hear but most adults can't. Young people are downloading the tone onto their cell phones so that they can receive calls in school without the teacher hearing the tone. This phenomenon, in fact, is the result of teens turning the tables on their elders. The technology first was developed in Britain to act as something of a teen repellent. Called the Mosquito, the pulsating tone was supposed to serve as an annoying sound that could be heard by undamaged young ears but which was too high-pitched for most adults to hear. It first was marketed to merchants who didn't want kids loitering outside their shops. But some enterprising youth -- the developers of the Mosquito system aren't sure who -- dreamed up another use for the technology. He or she designed software that allowed fellow teens to download the sound onto their phones. Now it is being used by millions of teens around the world to frustrate efforts to make them turn off their phones. Give them credit for ingenuity. And perhaps it serves adults right that they have become victims of their own underhanded plan to annoy their children with high-pitched noise. But, kids, listen to your parents. If you don't stop walking around listening to iPods and other personal music players at top volume, you'll wreck your hearing, too. And when you get older, you won't be able to hear the high-frequency ringtone either. And while we're at it: Why do kids find it necessary to talk on the phone 24 hours a day anyway? |