By Jayantha Fernando
During the 30 years of civil war there were occasional security checks and producing the national identity card to security personnel was a must. From young to old, the NIC was a must to carry whenever they stepped outside of their house. It was a norm. And years after the civil war the practice is still lived on. But wait, there is an addition…The mobile phone….Speak to your heart, do you leave your house without your mobile phone? Even though there is no law enforcing public to carry a mobile, it has become an everyday practice. Mobile phones are making lives easy. It’s almost as if everyone got a NIC number and a mobile number now. A girl getting late from office? She calls her better half, brother or father to pick her up. Teens getting ready for a pizza? They group text each other and get together for a treat. And what’s more? You can share pictures, listen to songs and now some networks offers cashless transactions as well. That’s not all, some units offer the facility of email, internet and most importantly an application for the easy access of ‘Facebook’.
Unlike two decades ago where a cellular phone was a luxury in Sri Lanka which had a price tag of over 120,000, nowadays you can even purchase a simple handset for a price of Rs 1,500 or less. Mobile phones made our lives better but as usual there is a negative view as always. Over the past few years we have heard so many mobile phone related bad incidents. Porn images and porn video sharing is a huge epidemic among the mobile users. And the Sri Lankan Government have imposed strict laws against them. We also have seen blackmailing, false public panic situation triggered by mobile phones. Due to the easy accessibility and availability mobile phone has become a super communication tool. Teen Inc., spoke to individuals to see their view…Is this good or bad?
Tharaka — Businessman
There are no arguments. This has made my life easy. According to the field I am in, I need to communicate anything related to my business then and there with the relevant parties and it saves my time and money. I carry a smart phone with all email facility. Now I don’t have to wait to go home or my office to send an email. I can just do it when I’m having my tea. It’s very effective for my business. Nothing like a prompt reply for an eager customer who wants information from me on a product or service I have to offer them. No matter how good my products are if I can’t serve them well they will go to another competitor, so having a full equipped mobile phone really helps.
Ranjith — Parent
We have seen and heard so many stories about schooling children who have taken each other’s indecent pictures and blackmailed. I once read of a suicide incident over it too. So many people are misusing and it has become a dangerous tool. There are laws to govern this but still it’s very dangerous, almost everyone has camera phone with image viewing facility. And some irresponsible parents buy very expensive phones for their children. With the crime rates there is a big chance of these getting snatched or even being a threat to life.
Studies show that there are good chances of radiation harming human brains from cell phones. This is a huge health risk for everyone who is using a phone. Even the most latest hand held devices still emit dangerous levels of radiation. Also there are many fancy services such as MMS, Email provided from networks and some youngsters spend too much money on them. They don’t realize that they are contributing heaps of money to private networks whilst their losing money their parents giving them to eat, bus fare and education.
Sandamali — CIMA student
I travel many days of a week to Colombo for my classes. I travel for over one to two hours daily back and forth, and it’s a huge rush for me. There were many instances where I spend time in a bus and go for classes just to realize there was an overnight cancelation of tuition session. But now after I got a mobile phone as a birthday gift, my friends keep me informed of any last minute issues. Also if I am getting late due to extra classes it’s easy for me to communicate with my family, so they won’t get worried. Some people misuse the mobile. There are so many trouble makers who make nuisance calls. They find the number from some source and call during late and odd hours. Sometimes when I block them, they come in from different numbers. They are sometimes very jobless and they go to pay phones in the streets and call me. These kinds of harassment is a huge trouble for a young girl. Because of these people who misuse mobile phones, some parents are reluctant to buy their children a mobile device and that’s a pity.
