Intellectual Freedom - Post #10

Wow, this is my last post of the semester! This has been fun.

I thought I'd end with a story that I find both hilarious and scary at the same time. It's about 6 weeks old, but I couldn't resist.

According to an article in the Times Online (UK), a company has been manufacturing a “teen repellent” called the Mosquito. It emits a high pitched noise that only young people can hear. Its purpose is dissuade teens from congregating in large groups. Amazingly, it has been installed in over 3,500 locations since it was made available!

Not surprisingly, people have been complaining about it. The Children’s Commissioner of England said, “These devices are indiscriminate and target all children and young people, including babies, regardless of whether they are behaving or misbehaving…The use of measures such as these are simply demonising children and young people, creating a dangerous and widening divide between the young and the old.” The creators, meanwhile, don’t understand what all of the hubbub is about. One of them said “Of course it doesn't solve the long-term problem, but it does what it says on the box. It disperses the large groups.”

Can you imagine something like this happening in the U.S.? We hear all of the time about teens being disruptive in the library after school. Well, we could just turn the Mosquito on from 3-6pm and that would take care of the problem! I just don’t understand how the creators of this can’t see that if you make these teens leave, they’re going to go somewhere else; probably somewhere that’s not as safe.

P.S. I’m still not sure if this is really true, but apparently some teens recorded the sound from the Mosquito and made it into a ringtone, so they can receive calls in class without anyone knowing! Brilliant!