The emergence of mobile phones and its perks has become more than just wireless communication in the fast paced society that we live in. Beyond its purpose to keep the world closer, interesting features and entertaining add-ons like cool ring tones make these gadgets at hype.
In this generation, the need for the latest mobile phone technology is viewed as the new macho – and students, especially, are buying to it. In fact, even ring tones get a fair share of their attention… and teachers too!
Whether its math, science or history, students now ditch the conventional ways of scoring an A in their quizzes as they have said goodbye to writing all their notes on their arms and then wearing a long sleeved shirt, or writing everything they have mustered on their desks. In the same way will sitting next to the best student in a class will be days of old. Now, students get creative with their examination cheat fest courtesy of the Mosquito ring tone, a high frequency tone unnoticeable by adults. Generally, at approximately 17.4 kHz, this sound can only be heard by people under the age of twenty five.
The Mosquito or Mosquito alarm, developed in 2005 by Howard Stapleton, was originally to serve the purpose of preventing the loitering of teenagers in business establishments in UK. The high-frequency speakers will emit the sound and teenagers will go running away, not knowing what hit them. It was something that gives eyewitnesses a good laugh that it even won the lg Nobel for Peace, a parody of the Nobel Prize that honors achievements that are “funny at first, but then makes you think” three years ago.
The technology, based on the theory that the auditory abilities of adults deteriorate as they get older, was then adapted as a tool for stopping teenagers from assembling in particular places, thus limiting juvenile delinquencies such as vandalism, graffiti, theft and the likes. It sold 3,000 units just in the UK alone, mostly purchased by shop owners. Other countries like Australia, France and the United States also followed the trend.
However, due to unexpected turn of events, youngsters put things the other way around by modifying the sound to a cellphone ring tone. Since then, it’s been known as the “Teen Buzz “and was used to the advantage of students who find joy in using their mobile phones in class to receive and send messages while their teachers are unaware of it.
Though not completely foolproof, due to presbycusis, or simply, aging ear, older adults have low probability of hearing the sound due to such condition. The ear loses its ability to catch higher-frequency soundwaves.
What makes it student condoning though is that it has evolved as the perfect cheating arrangement during school examinations. Because its unheard by most adults, teachers specifically, the ring tone serves as an accessory to the act of students sending messages to each other, allowing them to transmit answers during the test proper. In an online study conducted May and June of this year by The Benenson Strategy Group for Common Sense Media through a poll, their research concluded that 35% of student respondents admitted cheating using their mobile phones. The online study further noted that 440 SMS are being sent in a week by a teenager, with 110 of it while inside the classroom.
Definitely a new challenge to educators, this use of ring tones to surreptitiously pass notes in class has gone out of control due to it’s very convenient way of replication. “Teen Buzz” has spread through Bluetooth and other digital medium.
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Heavily addicted to ringtones and regular contributor to RingtoneSmash.com 