No Freebies

The Project last week featured a story on “Freemium” apps on smartphones and tablets.  Freemium combines the words Free and Premium.  They are so called because they are free to download but to get the most out of the app you have to purchase further items at a premium price.

They are quite a money winner as these apps are usually very addictive and easy to play.  Hence they are very appealing to children.

The panel mentioned examples where children have racked up hundreds or thousands of dollars on their parent’s credit cards after playing these games.  The panel asked their guest how to best avoid this predicament.

There were valid solutions given such as using gift cards instead of credit cards and changing settings to require a password each time a purchase is requested.

I was surprised that no one suggested this: ‘not letting your smartphones or tablets into the hands of your children’.  How about setting some boundaries and saying no to some things?  Why is it considered a given that we will hand our technology indiscriminately to our children?  Is it also considered a given that young children will have their own smartphone or tablet?  I can’t see why this should be.  Parents shouldn’t rely on them as entertainment for their children.

Parents need to grow a backbone and set some rules regarding these devices, then enforce.  It will save a lot of potential problems.