Teenage Mobile Use In Korea: Cutting Edge Or Cutting Back?

Note from Anastasia: Paul MacGregor covers Generation Y from a global perspective for Ypulse.

South Korea is at the bleeding edge of the convergence between life and technology. Whether it be Personal Media Players (PMPs), Digital Media Broadcasting (DMB), or Wireless Broadband (Wi-Bro), technology is so super-heated in Korea, that it is pushing the media and communication boundaries, and as such is setting the standard for the rest of the world. As you would imagine, South Korean teenagers are at the very heart of this brave digital new world.

Therefore once Reuters reported that the South Korean government had stepped in to curb the use of mobiles by teenagers, it caused quite a stir around the technology markets and amongst future thinkers.

The new legislation is fair, the government will allow parents to set a limit on their kids' phone bills, the benchmark in US$32.57. Teenagers will have to ask for their parents permission to go over this limit. The high-telephone-bill-issue is the same in households across the world, and the recent report that a Korean teenager had committed suicide after running up a US $4,017 bill proves the extremes.

However, it is a fact that both Samsung and LG both keep a microscopic eye on how home market teenagers are using their new technology to plan their global strategy, therefore this new legislation could limit the influence of Korean companies on the future mobile market.

The classic question for me lies in the quandary of whether "technology leads youth or youth leads technology." Would parental control result in Korea being usurped as the place to watch for the future of mobile convergence, or will the operators change their subscription models to allow teenagers the same amount of connectivity at a cheaper price, or finally (and the most exciting) will the technology companies change their products to deliver the same level of breaking functionality in a way which is both attainable and cost effective.

However the situation evolves you can guarantee that it will be very interesting to watch and will undoubtedly prove to be the future of mobile telephony on a global basis.

About Paul: Paul MacGregor is based in Singapore and operates threebillion.com. threebillion is a web-based news feed dedicated to the business behind youth culture. The site takes a global view on youth and follows what they're up to and what businesses are trying to sell them. You can contact Paul here.

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