Oldies can’t hang up

Parents holding on to their mobile phones over privacy fears

AUSTRALIAN parents are hanging on to, rather than handing down, their old mobile phones because they don’t know how to clear the data and are worried their kids will see private messages and spend up on their accounts.

New research shows one in three people are concerned someone will see their personal information or receive their messages if they give away their old mobiles, with more than 80 per cent admitting they would be more inclined to pass on their old phones if they knew how to remove their data.

And while most parents said they would like to hand down old phones to their children to save money on buying new devices, they were worried it could prove costly if credit cards and account details attached to their phones were not disconnected properly and their kids racked up large bills or made purchases without their consent as a result.

A third of parents also admitted they did not know how to set ‘kid-friendly’ parental controls on their mobiles.

Government- accredited mobile phone recycling program Mobile Muster commissioned the survey of more than 1000 Australian parents in September this year.

The survey also found that out of 34 per cent of parents that had handed phones down to children, one in five admit their children received messages not intended for them.

It also found that 17 per cent had experienced their children making purchases without their consent.

Alice Pryor from Parents’ Voice said learning how to set controls could help parents effectively limit their children’s screen time on handheld devices. “With excessive screen time being a major contributor to poor health outcomes for children it is helpful to learn how to limit access to certain elements such as certain websites or apps. And this can be done on your previously used phones also,” Ms Pryor said.