Case Discussion — Children: The Final Frontier…For Cell Phones

Name: Fionna Padmasari

Student ID: 2019955077

1. When it comes to cell phones for kids, who is the customer? Discuss the dynamics
of the decision to buy a cell phone for a young child.
Based on the case study, when it comes to cell phones for kids, the target market is the
parents rather than children. However, this is still a controversy because many
researches show that cell phone is not yet essential for younger child—it’s only the
constantly changing technology that inevitable and make us to adapt and also keep up
in this digital era. There are two different opinions from child advocates and various
politicians who say that this is only marketing tactics made by cell phone makers. On
the other hand, as numbers of kids carry their own mobiles increase, this trigger the
industry to continue to make phones for younger market. In the end, the decision is on
their parents whether or not they give in to their kids’ demands or due to safety reasons
(many of the children’s phones come with GPS tracking as well as the parental control
features).

2. How do current trends in the family life cycle affect the marketing of cell phones
to children?
Cell phones are an invaluable technology that has fundamentally changed the way we
communicate and get information. But as with anything good, too much of it can lead
to problems. A growing body of research is highlighting the various drawbacks of
overusing cell phones and other mobile devices, including—ironically—the fact that
all this communication technology is actually pulling family members farther apart and
negatively affecting our interpersonal relationships.

If the younger generation is accustomed to having their own cell phone too early, this
would affect their relationship both with society and within themselves. For instance,
research shows that cell phone it is addictive and contagious—when someone is busy
with his or her phone, the others tend to pull out their own phone in response as a self-
defense. Thus, interaction with other people will not be as good as we may think; when
you are with someone and you are on the phone at the same time, you are where the
phone is—the virtual world. Not to forget that it is also easy to lose track of time when
we are on the screen; checking e-mails, scrolling over social media, playing game, etc.

In my opinion, the younger generation will be more comfortable with their phone than
to have human interaction in real life as time goes by. Which of course, this is not
something we aim to have in the future.