Cell Shock

The provocation was a trip to a mall on Janmashtmi with eight other kids and one harried parent for a movie. (A four-hour jaunt to a mall involves two trips to the restroom while passing the distractions of Cocoberry Ice Cream and McDonald’s in the midst of thousands of holiday revelers.) In this age of chaos and terrorism,I reasoned,that it’s only wise to hand him a phone to call me or the host parent in case he gets lost in the mall. After drilling it into him to keep the phone carefully,wondering whether I’ve turned into a paranoid parent,I rated my chances of seeing the phone again at 50-50.

Miraculously,the phone did come back,unharmed and intact,with balance money,after just one inconsequential call. How had we managed without this technology,ever?

The safety issue is the reason most parents cave in to mobile phones for preteens. But in Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai,the best birthday gift you can give your 10-year-old is not an iPod or a Play Station,or just any old cellphone,it’s the BlackBerry. Lately,I see many tweens flaunting it,already addicted to BBM Chat,something I have fiercely resisted myself,though I’ve begun to feel I might be the last person on earth who’s not on BlackBerry Messenger. The reason kids love the Blackberry is that it’s got e-mail,internet,games,and free unmonitored,instant chat that has made texting so last century. It’s become the ultimate cool accessory for children to carry among their peers.

Cellphone shops in Delhi’s Khan Market and some malls sell trendy and kiddish BB phone accessories,like candy pink covers studded with Swarovskis and popular cartoon characters.

There are no statistics available on teens’ usage of mobiles in India,but studies conducted in the West suggest that 75 per cent of 12-17-year-olds in the US own a cellphone,and they’re getting their phones at earlier ages. It’s a fact that the mobile is a necessity: kids too need it to coordinate play dates,tuition and after-school activities.

But a basic handset minus a camera and other frills will do,no matter how uncool. For parents already struggling with their kids’ constantly wavering attention,a BlackBerry is a nightmare. It means you’re competing with yet another screen; after the TV,computer,DS and PSP,and to add to it,relentless BB pinging. It means they can browse inappropriate websites,dodgy videos and become susceptible to all sorts of cyber crimes. Facebook even has a Page called BlackBerry Messenger Flirt (BBMF) for singles to meet.

How we view the ubiquitous mobile has fundamentally changed since its debut in the 1990s. When I was in college,there was one girl in our class who owned one,a mammoth Motorola,that we all peered over,in wonder. Now,just a simple phone minus the extras no longer cuts it and I wonder how long it’ll be before I succumb to the magnetic pull of free chat.

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