Techno Ju-Jitsu

14 June 2006



Teens Use “Mosquito” Ring Tone in School

Back in December, this journal reported on a rather clever device invented in Wales to drive teenagers away. Because teens can hear high frequency sounds few over 30 can, a pulsing tone at those frequencies will drive them nuts while leaving adults blissfully unaware (as so often) that anything is amiss. The tables have turned, though, and teens are now using the “Mosquito” sound as a ringtone, which adults don’t notice.

Many years ago, back in the 1990s, a mobile phone was a rarity and no kid had one. Times have changed, and the mobile phone is now as ubiquitous in teenagedom as a sulky attitude and a hand held out for unearned cash. This doesn’t pose much of a problem except in school, where the little darlings should be listening to an old person (teachers are known to live well into their 30s) rather than chatting (or texting) amongst themselves. When a phone goes off in class, it usually gets confiscated. That isn’t enough for some rule-mad “grown-ups” like Mayor Mike “Giuliani with a Smile” Bloomberg of New York. He has banned student cell phones from school altogether – another terrorist attack in New York will prove the folly of his policy, but that is another article.

What is a teen to do when one must avoid getting caught with a phone in class but when must still know what Diane’s best friend’s cousin’s step-sister said about the cute new guy in biology? Enter the “Mosquito” ring tone. When the phone rings, every kid in class hears it and knows a call or text message in arriving. Yet the old dotard up front droning on and on about William Blake, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton and other foundations of modern civilization is oblivious. Ohmigod, adults are soooo dumb.

Michelle Musorofiti's freshman honors math class at Roslyn High School on Long Island has a problem, though. According to the New York Times, she’s 28 and can hear the “Mosquito.” As the NYT story put it:

‘Whose cell phone is that?’ Musorofiti demanded, demonstrating that at 28, her ears had not lost their sensitivity to strangely annoying, high-pitched, though virtually inaudible tones.

‘You can hear that?’ one of them asked.

‘Adults are not supposed to be able to hear that,’ said another, according to the teacher’s account.

She heard that, Musorofiti said. ‘Now turn it off,’ she said.

Is there any better proof of the neutrality of technology than this? What was an irritant became a tool. Shame about Ms. Musorofiti’s hearing. Note to kids: set the damned thing on vibrate – she’ll never know. And it comes free with your phone, no need to spend money on a download.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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