It seems cellular phones have become a necessity in our society. Everywhere you go they appear, attached to their host’s hand or pressed against their ear.
Not even children are safe from the addictive desire to hold such power in the palm of their hand. With features like text messaging, games, cameras, streaming video and unrestricted web access, who could resist the temptation? What many people don’t even realize, though, is that within this great innovation lies a hidden danger.
No, we’re not trying to frighten you with myths of cancer-causing cell phone use. This concern is all too real: cell phone pornography. Yes, that’s right, cell phone porn. It may not have occurred to many of you that unrestricted Internet access on cellular phones is just that, unrestricted and unlimited. Some men reading this might wonder why free porn via your cell phone is really a problem, but consider the serious repercussions this could have, especially when innocent children are concerned.
Perverts and pedophiles not only view and/or listen to any type of pornography at home and sometimes even at work, but now they can send you or your family pornographic photos and videos as well, creating an entirely new form of molestation and harassment, which has yet to be restricted by law.
The Department of Justice has yet to prosecute a single obscenity case dealing with Internet pornography. Cellular carriers and pornographers alike are salivating at the chance to make big bucks off this new market.
European consumers already spend an estimated $100 million a year for pornography via cell phones, while U.S. consumers are predicted to quadruple that number within the next few years. Perhaps we will even surpass South Korea where 50 percent of all cell phone users purchased adult content in the year 2004.
Entrepreneurs are setting out to further boost the industry’s profits by creating pornographic content specifically designed for mobile viewing. Adult entertainment firms like Xobile offer two-minute video clips for 44 cents each.
But that is not all. Numerous pornographic ring tones are also available for reasonable prices. Instead of opting to purchase the latest hit songs, consumers have the option to set their ring tone as a woman moaning profusely during sex.
Imagine your professor’s lecture being interrupted by a grotesque ring tone like that.
Worse yet, imagine your child’s phone going off with a ring tone like that.
Perhaps there is not much we can do as those from the left scream first amendment and those from the right scream free enterprise in defense of this travesty, but at least we can be a bit more aware of what we are naively placing into our children’s hands. You should think again before purchasing a cell phone for your fourth grader. At the minimum, put a block on Internet access.
And you might want to think again about what your college sweetie is really listening to on his phone.
Comment Policy: Comments are welcomed and encouraged. However, the editorial board reserves the right to edit or delete, without notice, any comments submitted to the blog. For more details, see our full Comment Policy.