"More Money Than Sense" – Mobile Phone Culture and Young People

Isn’t people’s use of money a good sorter of them, and their relative positions, in this life? Some people are so unyielding with their money, they hold it tightly to their chests, the proverbial moths escaping whenever they open their purses and wallets; you can see the literal outplaying of a heart bent on being ruled by money. The other extreme is just as concerning; young people especially find it difficult to grasp the value of money and often use it too flippantly.

I remember as a boy my mother referring to people with ‘more money than sense.’ These people would throw good money after bad on some of the most forlorn ventures. Having committed money and seeing it go bad they’d often not think too harshly of themselves saying, ‘Oh, well, better luck next time...’

It reminds me of the mobile phone industry today and its obvious target; the young person with limited income. They have high needs regarding communication with their friends with MSN Messenger, MySpace, Facebook, SMS and other ‘instant’ services. It’s a very “now” environment for today’s teenager and person in their early twenties... even ten year olds nowadays have prepaid phones and are often talking in terms of, ‘Got no credit.’

Exorbitant phone bills, broken phone equipment a few months into a 24-month contract, communications forays and gossip sessions are but a few of the problems. I see it directly; it’s all around me. The mobile phone industry has revolutionised life in some respects but it also has a lot to answer for.

Sure, from a young person’s viewpoint, a mobile can bring you into contact with your friends but where does it end; they’re constantly not with the people they physically with, to spend the majority of their time with friends via this electronic media.

For parents they’re handy for security; the theory is you can contact your kids whenever you want. The reality is somewhat different. People are only contactable when their phones are ‘on.’

The biggest trap here is the expense factor. Young people are notoriously naive when it comes to money. And what is the parent’s role here? To protect to a certain point, and certainly to advise, but at the end of the day most later teens will do as they please and must be allowed to make their own mistakes if they insist that this is the only way they’ll learn.

Copyright © 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.