If you’re an adult who doesn’t own a cellphone in this day and age then you are in the minority and likely to be a technophobe. Hell, mobile phones are even common amongst kids now, with many schools banning their use on the premises. So I wonder how they, and parents everywhere, will feel about a cellphone designed specifically for children as young as 4-years-old?

The Firefly Mobile handset has already sold well in its native Ireland, and is set to go on sale later this year in the U.K. It’s designed for use by children between the ages of four and 12, an age group where ownership and usage of a normal mobile phone is probably a bit of a no-no.

The Firefly costs £85 ($140) and comes in a delightfully childish and eye-catching design of a bright pink background covered with flowers. Unlike conventional handsets, the Firefly comes with just five buttons; the necessary On and Off switches, one to access the phonebook (which stores up to 20 names and numbers), and buttons printed with male and female symbols, one of which calls mum and the other which calls dad. So it’s only good for traditional family units rather than either single parent families or ones which have same-sex parents.

The mobile phone does come with some built-in safeguards; the phonebook initially only works by a parent-controlled PIN number, texts cannot be sent, and photographs cannot be taken. But that hasn’t stopped parenting groups condemning the phone for being designed to appeal to youngsters, making them grow up too fast and possibly putting them at risk of health issues from prolonged exposure to radio waves.

The people behind the phone are husband and wife Kevin and Frances Crean from Dublin. They told The Times how they got the idea for the Firefly when their six-year-old daughter developed the symptoms of meningitis at a day camp. The people in charge didn’t contact the couple and it was then they realized a mobile phone for their young daughter may be a good idea.

I can see the practical uses for this mobile phone for toddlers but can’t help thinking the health concerns outweigh the benefits. There’s also the unnerving fact that this is robbing children of an innocence that disappears once you are contactable at all hours of the days and night. But with sales already in excess of 7,000 units clearly not everyone thinks this way.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 2:20 am under Cell phones, Health, Opinion, Technology.

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