Beat Bullying With Your Mobile

Last week was anti-bullying week in the UK and KidsOK chose the event to launch its new PingAlert service that, it hopes, will cut down on bullying by enabling kids to quickly and discreetly send a message to their parents or guardian. The service works when a child presses a pre-specified speed-dial button on their mobile, which can be done quickly and subtly without having to make a call or text. This triggers a process which sends a PingAlert text message to the parent’s handset containing a map and description of their child’s current location. The parent can then call the child back to check that they are OK and, if necessary, come to their aid. “PingAlert provides a great tool in the war against bullying; now kids can alert their parents that they’re in trouble without having to call or text them. This is a critical factor when being bullied as calling or texting often draws unwanted attention to the child. This is a much better method for dealing with a bullying situation,” explained Michele Elliott, director of children’s charity Kidscape.

PingAlert is easy to use, and inexpensive, too. Any handsets you’d like to use with the scheme can be registered for free at www.pingalert.co.uk and it costs just 50p to send an alert (the phone must be in credit at the time). KidsOK is keen to point out that PingAlert isn’t a replacement for dialing 999 in an emergency but that it “gives people of all ages a way of contacting friends or relatives quickly and subtly to ask for help”, said KidsOK CEO Richard Jelbert.