Pornographic applications on students’ phones

Parents of students and teenagers reported that well-known smartphone manufacturing companies provide applications containing sexual and pornographic materials on all types of phones, such as Apple, BlackBerry, Android, and others, adding that they were surprised by the presence of these applications on their children’s phones in image files. Sexual images, pictures of celebrities, sexual jokes, and pornographic books are easily circulated and disseminated through the so-called “apps” of each individual phone company. On the other hand, the Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Mohammed Nasser Al-Ghanim, confirmed that the Authority had addressed a number of companies to remove certain applications that it considered inappropriate for Emirati society and its customs and traditions for one reason or another. These companies responded to the Authority’s request immediately and canceled these applications.

In detail, citizen Ahmed Al-Hammadi said that he bought a modern smart phone produced by a famous company, but he discovered that it was difficult to use, especially since most of its applications are in English, so he gave it to his son in high school. After a few days, he noticed that the phone was taking up almost all of his time at home, and he began using it more than using a computer. The computer, so he asked him for the device under the pretext that he wanted to learn some of its features. He was surprised that the surface of the phone was filled with many educational, cultural, and entertainment icons, some of which were free and others were paid. Among the applications was an icon bearing a sexual image. When he opened it, he discovered the presence of lewd images that had been downloaded through the so-called “Al-Abs.”

Atef Al-Saghir stated that he discovered on his son’s phone, who is 14 years old, a file containing obscene sexual jokes. It turned out that he had received a notification from the phone, so he downloaded it without knowing its content without paying any money, adding that he was keen to raise his son in a healthy manner. Good religious and moral values, but this age is when the young man or teenager tends to discover and is characterized by a love of curiosity, and here comes the role of parents in guiding them and correcting their behavior. Alaa Darwish, an Arabic language teacher, called on the competent regulatory authorities to take measures to ensure the protection of young people and adolescents from themselves, and from the fierce electronic attack to which the entire Arab society is exposed, to distort its values ​​and morals, adding that he noticed through his work in teaching that many students and adolescents carry Smartphones worth no less than 2,000 dirhams, and many of the paid applications that are downloaded range in price from $1 to $25, unlike applications for educational tools such as dictionaries, educational programs, etc., which means that the student has the authority to use payment cards, which makes it dangerous Being vulnerable to exploitation by these phone operators.

The educational expert who directs Islamic education, Dr. Abdullah Al-Khatib, stated that this negative phenomenon is caused by the absence of rational guidance on the part of the family, and the inculcation of religious and moral motives in the souls of the children, stressing that modern means of communication make the issue of the ban useless because there are several means that young people resort to to break this issue. The ban, and external supervision of children will not prevent them from committing these methods, but rather what is called self-control must be instilled, which the young man exercises over himself when he knows that God Almighty is aware of him when he commits any of these acts, adding that the school also has a role in instilling these Values ​​besides family.

The Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Mohammed Nasser Al-Ghanim, explained that Apple alone currently has more than a million applications on its smart phones and products, and therefore the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority cannot follow up on every application, calling on citizens and residents to address the authority in the event of discovering any An application that is pornographic, immoral, or does not fit with the traditions of Emirati society, to address the company that produced it and cancel it.