South Korea is taking the problem of teenagers driving up household mobile-phone bills seriously. Officials said the country will introduce new laws aimed at controlling teenagers’ use of mobile phones. Part of the regulations call for teenagers to have a separate contract, and families will be encouraged to establish a usage limit of roughly $40 a month. About two-thirds of South Korean teenagers have their own mobile phone.
A new study by PBS found cell phones may be useful as an educational tool. Eighty parents with children between the ages of three and four were given video-enabled Sprint PCS phones and asked to listen to literacy tips and allow their children to watch streamed letter video clips at least three times a week for two months. The study was designed to test the level of acceptance of using cell phones for educational content to parents of preschool children. Parents surveyed during the study said the video increased their children’s knowledge of the alphabet and provided them with tools to help their children with literary skills.
