‘Ten Ten’, an app from the Chinese company ‘tentenapp’ of the same name, is the latest hype among young people, also here in Limburg. The app describes itself as “an app that turns your phone into a walkie-talkie, allowing you to talk live with your best friends, anytime, anywhere.” And the latter is also true: you cannot turn off the app. Even when the receiver’s screen is locked, it can still hear you. This can sometimes cause disruption, especially during class. This also applies to the Biotechnicum in Bocholt. “During class, a teacher suddenly heard noise coming from a few telephones,” says director Bart Schijns. Students are not allowed to use their phones during class unless otherwise instructed, and in the Biotechnicum each class has a cell phone hotel where students must place their phones. “Telephones are not used during class and to avoid distractions, we store them that way. Students are allowed to use their mobile phones while they are studying.”
Three boys in the study used the app and started talking to one of the students who were in the class. “We confiscated the phones of the three students for a few days and sent an email to the parents to warn them about the app. We also urged them to remove Ten Ten,” says Schijns. At the Biotechnicum they also take strict action against anyone who disrupts class with the app. “We don’t know how (un)safe that app is, so we have imposed a general ban. If we catch anyone else using it during class, that person will have to hand in his or her phone every day until the end of the school year.”
Privacyschending
This concern for student privacy appears to be justified. The terms and conditions of the app state that the creators may copy, reproduce, make public, sell, publish, broadcast and store anything you upload to the app. “With such apps you actually give away your privacy for free,” says social media expert Kristof Claes. To use the app you must grant access to all your contacts. That is forbidden, but it still happens regularly. “We also see this with apps such as Temu and TikTok. There is a good chance that those companies will sell on data in order to make money.” Just like those two apps, Ten Ten is Chinese. “The Chinese are slightly better at creating apps and circumventing privacy laws than we are.”
Yet Claes does not see it completely black and white. “I do think there could be advantages to the app. For example, the app can be very useful for crew members at a festival or in a disco. But that is only for later, when the app has been developed better and clearer.”