Comments on: Anti-Teen Loitering Device: Is It Torture?

By: Beentheredonethat

Beentheredonethat — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:46:22 +0000

It’s about time they came up with something. I hate going shopping then trying to fight my way through punk kids that have nothing better to do than just sit there, smoking and talking trash about everyone. When you loiter, your breaking the law.

By: MarkJones34

MarkJones34 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:13:12 +0000

Here is another site I found where you can download the tones for free. I found it interesting, I am 24 and could still hear some of the higher tones, so test it out yourself.

http://free-mosquito-ringtones.net

By: John P.

John P. — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:58:55 +0000

I find it nice that just because minors can’t legally fight back we get tons of crap dumped on us. I can’t wear a T-shirt to school when the old lady in the cafeteria can walk around the halls wearing an outfit with an Obama advertisement on every piece of her clothing? (Mind you we had one of those cheesy kids voting polls for president where McCain won 308-94 so she was defined as trolling) We have to constantly be annoyed by deafening ringing because a percentage of us might commit a crime? I loathe being a teenager as is, no need to dump more dread on the pile.

By: Gaby

Gaby — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:17:41 +0000

do this things really work in most teenagers nowadays? I think it’ll be more likely to be annoying to people in their late 30′s and up since they probably have a better hearing than most 15 year olds nowadays. All this listening of super low quality mp3′s in iPods with those earbuds that hurt your ears and stuff it’s taking its toll in teenagers.

By: Lore

Lore — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:10:59 +0000

This hurts my ears. If i were to hear it somewhere I’d run like hell… and they’d lose my business.

By: fsmarch

fsmarch — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:52:13 +0000

Sofar beat me to it, as far as dogs are concerned. They don’t do anything. They don’t hang around making noise late at night. They don’t use the ‘F’ word in every sentance. They don’t leave their trash behind on the sidewalk, within steps of a trash can.

The teens do, around my condo.

We call the cops.

By: marcnm

marcnm — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:43:12 +0000

I’m 35 and have Tinnitus (constant ringing) from listening to loud music on headphones when I was younger (and still now even).

If the Mosquito doesn’t deafen these kids they’ll do it themselves.

/damn kids
//get off my lawn

By: Reechard

Reechard — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:23:37 +0000

This is great. My fist shakin’ hand will get some well needed rest. Damn kids.

By: S-r-ex

S-r-ex — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:58:23 +0000

I can confirm it’s a nuisance. It was way too popular as a ringtone about two years ago…was like a constant tinnitus…

By: ted

ted — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:07:09 +0000

By that logic, it shouldn’t be okay to prevent children from driving, or teenagers from drinking or smoking.

Whiners.

By: Alannah

Alannah — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:30:39 +0000

Let take a step back….let’s say that the sound could only be heard by black people. Is it okay now? Then it shouldn’t be okay to do the same thing to those under some arbitrary age requirement.

By: Lea

Lea — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:43:37 +0000

By the way, I just tried listening to it here:
http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/
and couldn’t hear any of the 30 & younger tones.

And I’m 20.

By: Lea

Lea — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:37:25 +0000

Helgar’s right. It just pushes them somewhere else that is probably less frequently monitored.
Oh yeah, and then there’s that health and rights things.

By: foosnark

foosnark — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:22:15 +0000

I’m 36 and can hear a 22KHz tone just fine, thanks. This device is only 17KHz.

I will not shop at places that have this thing installed.

By: avraamov

avraamov — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:20:05 +0000

i think that part in the clip justin posted might be silent. maybe it got compressed out in the streaming process. maybe i’m an old fart.

By: Kacie

Kacie — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:55:07 +0000

They have one of these devices at a local grocery store. I live in a college town with very few crime issues. You cannot tell me, as someone who is absolutely tortured by this sound every time I go to buy groceries, that it is really necessary as a loitering deterrent. I would think there are other methods less irksome to customers.

By: Sofar

Sofar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:30:24 +0000

Also, why annoy dogs that didn’t do anything?

By: Sheldon

Sheldon — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:26:55 +0000

This doesn’t SOLVE anything. It just annoys the teens. It may make them not want to come back, but it could keep other business away that can hear it. And it just makes them congregate in other places, now disgruntled. If that’s not enough to make someone angry, I don’t know what is. And Justin, it’s not in that clip. I can hear the sound that it makes (my friends have the ringtone and we hate it) but I heard nothing from that.

By: JamesB

JamesB — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:24:54 +0000

I can see why people would want it gone, I have the sound on my phone just for fun and whenever I use it there is usually at least one of my friends who claps their hands over their ears in pain. So I never use it anymore except when it comes up in conversation.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:07:40 +0000

If anyone is interested in testing their hearing. This NPR audio clip “apparently” includes the noise that comes from this device. I say apparently because I can’t hear anything.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459251

(it’s near the beginning so just be patient)

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:52:06 +0000

(@L)
Why should the young ever be painted all as criminals simply because they have no legal standing to fight back?
If you think about it its just a form of discrimination. If it was targeted by any other variable such as race, sexuality or religion it would be cried down; quite rightly. It would also be decried if it was aimed at old people. So aiming it at young people is a horrible idea and as far as I can see probably against human rights.

By: Manticore

Manticore — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:42:58 +0000

and yet aren’t teens in danger of losing their hearing from too loud iPods???
which is it?

By: JoBo S

JoBo S — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:02:29 +0000

My emotions on this are mixed. I can see to use this in problem areas and how that will help. Yet I don’t see that SOLVING the probalem. It seems more like the “sweep it under a rug” tactic.

By: bean

bean — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:42:27 +0000

Add me to the list of people who just happen to have undamaged hearing. This should be considered a violation of noise ordinances.

By: otterly

otterly — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:03:56 +0000

I think water jets would be more effective.

By: avraamov

avraamov — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:56:34 +0000

this is just abrogation of wider social responsibilities. everyone’s scared of getting stabbed now, so no-one risks confrontation, and out of sight is out of mind.
like most acoustic warfare though, you just need earplugs or even closed back headphones. or a can of builder’s foam and a ladder…

i think there should be an infrasound version for the idiots who install these things.

By: J of The Sandhills

J of The Sandhills — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:50:51 +0000

it could be worse…i read where in Tokyo, there are these rent a cops who blow whistles at loiters

By: J of The Sandhills

J of The Sandhills — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:36:41 +0000

i understand the merchants frustration with idle teens hanging around not buying anything….

if you want to move teenagers away from an area, just play some jazz or big band music. those that dont move are probably too docile to be a problem

By: cuimhne

cuimhne — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:16:43 +0000

I can still hear those frequencies too…and you know what? So can my mom who is pushing 50! This is ridiculous!

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:16:25 +0000

I have an Idea! Lets make one of these to target old people, then watch as AARP goes batshit on everyone for even DARING to have the idea.

By: L

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:53:30 +0000

I’m in my 30s and I can still hear those frequencies. Why should I be punished for something I didn’t do?

By: Christophe

Christophe — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:53:20 +0000

There is a new law angle in France : some people launched a lawsuit based on medical ground : not hearing a loud sound does not mean it’s not going to harm you hearing.
Interesting.

By: Helgar

Helgar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:24:44 +0000

“Now, there’s no confrontation at all; they just get aggravated and leave within a few minutes.”

They then gather elsewhere and beat the snot out of each other. Smart device. *rolls eyes* Solving social issues by further aggravating those with the issues isn’t much of a plan, it’s laziness.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:24:26 +0000

We must have this at every mall….near the Starbucks. Why is it I see 20 teenagers hanging out in there every time I go?

By: Rosi

Rosi — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:06:41 +0000

Arg, I hate these things.
They’ve got one of these outside my local McDonalds. I used to go there reasonably often, about once a week or so, but after they’ve installed this I can’t even go near the place. It’s very painful, especially when it’s just one long sound rather than a beeping noise. It gives some of my friends bad headaches just to walk past it (there’s about a twenty foot radius around it where you can hear the sound). And you can even hear it inside!
It seems that the companies are trying to drive away their customers! I understand that a very small minority of teenagers want to cause trouble, but what about the much greater majority who are paying customers? Why should we have to suffer?

By: Idil

Idil — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:01:17 +0000

wow this is ridiculous. It would be awesome if they made it into a ringtone though… then the professors wouldn’t hear the phones ringing during class

By: Jaycatt

Jaycatt — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:19:08 +0000

In case anyone is interested, here’s a page with ringtones of the various Mosquito sounds, if you’d like to hear. I do think it’s pretty clever to use as a ringtone, so older people apparently wouldn’t be able to hear your phone ring.

http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/

By: Jaycatt

Jaycatt — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:11:27 +0000

I’ve always had a pretty good sense of hearing high-pitched sounds, even now, at age 37. I wonder if there’s a sample of this sound online somewhere, to see if I could hear it or not.

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:54:20 +0000

students use it as a ringtone to alert them to texts so that their teachers cant hear. wish i had that when i was in school.

By: Sofar

Sofar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:53:54 +0000

I love being punished for crimes I haven’t committed yet. You know, if the old people can’t hear anything in that register, how do they know it’s still working? Just disable the thing somehow, they won’t notice.

By: luvpumpkns

luvpumpkns — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:46:22 +0000

i heard about this last year, and whoever reported it had a link to the noise. everyone in my office could hear it(and were annoyed by it), including women and men in their 40′s and 50′s. i had heard that store-owners were thinking about using them in stores to discourage teenaged shoppers. if i ever hear one, they’ll be losing my business fast.

By: jack.wh

jack.wh — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:20:10 +0000

Maybe, although expensive, in common areas of gangs hanging around, they should have CCTV operators who can manually turn the device on?

By: fluff

fluff — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:06:56 +0000

Some places in Switzerland tried this device. Fortunately this was only a very short lived experiment.