September 4, 2001   *   vol. 1 (10)

1

2

vol. 1 (10)   *   September 4, 2001

     In a recent Interactive Mobile Commerce Study conducted in seven countries including the Philippines, it showed that 26.5 % of Filipino aged 15-65 have cell phones, with the highest ownership among 15-24 years. A separate local study reported that the phone density among 15-25 age bracket is about 70 %, with average monthly company revenue of P800 per person for postpaid and P500 per month for prepaid subscriptions, respectively.
     In other more developed countries like China, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand people who own cell phones are in the middle age, with most usage for commercial and business purposes. Younger people apparently do not have the purchasing power to own a mobile phone.
     The advances in the real time communications have penetrated the Filipino youth, who should be busy studying rather than engaging early in "commerce and business" as what mobile phones should aptly serve for. The study may mean, too, that at these early ages our youth have the "financial capacity" to acquire a unit, while the rest of the nation screw up because of economic difficulties.
     The Philippines has become the world's texting capital. Cellular phones and text messaging has become an addiction. As almost everyone would want to own a cell phone but could not afford, the obsession and compulsion has yet created a new crime on the rise - cell phone snatching. Ever since the Global Service for Mobile Communications offered text messaging as an inherent feature, and the prepaid cards launched, text messaging became a phenomenon. Cell phones have made it essentially easy to reach other people, wherever, at all times, making them indispensable part of our lives. However, technology has ironically grabbed some important productive hours that could

have been allotted for studies, and work. Text generation has even poised a problem that has not helped in anyways to improve the deterioration in our teaching of English, which is the language of today's information technology world. Furthermore, it has also somehow corrupted some young minds from the proliferation of dirty, sexually explicit text jokes because of the liberality in texting prompting some lawmakers to file RA 7887, making sending of obscene text messages a crime. Has this equipment created a negative force in our society?
     Together with a cell phone should be a sense of responsibility and discipline on how, where, when, who and what to use it for. It may not be a necessity yet to young individuals, aside from the reason that this technology is somewhat harming our sense of humanity. The young generation should better devote more of their time studying, or improving their crafts, and let their minds flourish with good values.