Khalaf Al-Harbi

Okaz

 

THE Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) has said about 30 percent of the expenses of Saudi families involve mobile phone and Internet bills. This simply means that the expenditure on electronic media has surpassed spendings on food, rent, medication and other basic needs.



No doubt, the mobile phones, the Internet and other electronic devices and programs have become a necessity of life today. They have reduced distances and brought people closer to each other at any time of the day or night.

However, it is not logical for mobile phone and Internet bills to reach these high levels.



Do people have to struggle to earn a living, suffer through traffic congestion and bear up with the rudeness of their superiors only to talk on the mobile phone?



Firstly, these hefty bills were created by communication companies, which found their target market in the madness of consumers who will not hesitate to buy any new electronic gadgets, even if they do not need them.



Secondly, the high bills were the result of a lack of awareness among consumers who use their mobile phones and the Internet for long hours on idle talk and for trivial purposes.



These people will only come to realize their misuse of mobile phones and the Internet when they receive their exorbitant bills. They are left with no option but to pay, otherwise the services will be cut.



If I were in the place of the CPA, I would seek the help of a programmer, preferably someone with hostility toward the communication companies, to come up with a special program that would convert the value of the bills into consumer goods.



People will then come to realize that they could have bought their needs of food, clothes and other basic items with the amount of money they spent on mobile phones and the Internet.



When Um Saleh finishes her idle talk on the mobile phone backbiting about all her female friends, the program will instantly send her the pictures of the items she could have bought instead of losing her money on meaningless talk.



The program can also send men pictures of air tickets and other valuables they could have secured instead of losing their time and money unnecessarily on silly talk on their mobiles.



Men usually use their mobile phones to badmouth their friends who they will be hugging and kissing the next day, as if they did not say anything bad about them.