Tag: child

Kids are getting smartphones earlier

Posted on May 20, 2016 by - News

siT0KjGA new report shows that the average age kids are getting smartphones is just ten years old.

Influence Central’s report into Kids & Tech shows that an average child gets their first smartphone is now 10.3 years.  Apparently half parents give their kids tablets to shut them up inthe car and 45 per cent give them a smartphone to play with.

More than 64 percent of kids have access to the internet via their own laptop or tablet, compared to just 42 percent in 2012

About 39 percent of kids get a social media account at 11.4 years. 11per cent got a social media account when they were younger than 10.

Additionally, some of Influence Central’s research paints a picture of parents who are relaxing a little bit about their kids’ access to the internet which is enabled by so many devices.

While 85 percent accessed the Internet from a room shared with the family in 2012, that number dropped to 76 per cent today, and 24 percent now have “private” access from their bedrooms.

 

Child labour plant dogs Samsung

Posted on August 5, 2014 by - News

child_laborThe Chinese subsidiary of Shinyang Engineering has started supplying parts to Samsung a month after business ties were cut over child labour allegations.

Samsung halted business with Dongguan Shinyang Electronics after China Labor Watch found at least five child workers without contracts at the plant.

The kids were working on the assembly lines at Dongguan Shinyang and yet a month earlier an independent audit by Samsung found no child labour at the site.

Shinyang said that a third-party firm supplying workers had brought in child labourers around the end of June with forged identification.

There are no child workers at Dongguan Shinyang now and the children working at the plant have been let go.

Samsung suppliers have been under watch since 2012, when China Labor Watch found seven children younger than 16 were working for one of the South Korean firm’s China-based suppliers. Chinese law forbids hiring workers under 16.

Apple had a similar problem with some of its Chinese contacts and people objecting to Foxconn workers throwing themselves off buildings rather than making its shiny toys.

Samsung suspends supplier contract over kiddie labour

Posted on July 14, 2014 by - News

android-china-communistSamsung has suspended business with a Chinese supplier over allegations of employing child labour.

The move comes a week after a US watchdog report accused the supplier of using underaged workers and Samsung promised to investigate.

Samsung said its investigations had found an “illegal hiring process” at Dongguan Shinyang Electronics which supplies mobile phone covers and parts.

Samsung added that it had previously found no child workers at the Chinese company in three audits since 2013. The latest audit ended on June 25.

The company said that it would cut all ties with the supplier if the allegations were true.

“If the investigations conclude that the supplier indeed hired children illegally, Samsung will permanently halt business with the supplier in accordance with its zero-tolerance policy on child labour,” it said.

US-based China Labor Watch released a report on last week claiming that the Chinese firm used child labour. The watchdog said it had found “at least five child workers” without contracts at the supplier.

Samsung demands suppliers adopt a hiring process that includes face-to-face interviews and the use of scanners to detect fake IDs, to ensure no child labourers are employed.

China Labor Watch said that Samsung’s monitoring system was ineffective because it was failing to catch the use of child labour by the supplier.

 

 

 

Chinese couple sell kids for game apps

Posted on July 14, 2014 by - News

android-china-communistA Chinese couple has been arrested for selling its children to pay for its online game app addiction.

According to Guangdong TV, A Hui and A Mei were so severely addicted to online games and bankrupted themselves to pay for game items. When it came to a choice between their addiction and their children, they flogged off the kids to child traffickers.

Not only would this give them a windfall, but they would not have financial burden of supporting their children. A Hui told most of the problem was the fact his wife was “fond of” playing online games and likes to buy game items.

He also would not give up his in-app purchases and could not support his first son and they sold him to Fujian-based child traffickers. When the wife A Mei bore another son, they felt they would not be able to support their second child too. As they were both saw some interesting in-app items, so they him too.

Child trafficking is a big problem in China where kids are sold to street peddlers, street gangs and to couples from other countries who want to adopt Chinese children. The country executes those who are accused of the crime, but  several traffickers seem to get away with it.

It appears that A Hui’s father blew the whistle on the couple’s antics when he started to wonder what was happening to his grandchildren. He was so shocked when they told him, that he called the cops.

A Hui and A Mei are awaiting trial in the detention centre and will be sentenced soon for the crime.