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A Colorado Group Wants To Ban Smartphones For Kids (apnews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the AP:
Colorado officials have cleared the language of a proposed ballot measure that would establish the nation's first legal limits on buying smartphones for children. Backers of the move to forbid the sale of smartphones to children younger than 13 would now need about 300,000 voter signatures for the proposal to make the 2018 ballot. The ban would require cellphone retailers to ask customers about the age of the primary user of a smartphone and submit monthly reports to the Colorado Department of Revenue on adhering to the requirement. Retailers who sell a phone for use by a youngster could be fined $500, after a warning.
A Denver-area dad is leading the campaign -- a board certified anesthesiologist who says children change when they get a cellphone. "They go from being outgoing, energetic, interested in the world and happy, to reclusive. They want to spend all their time in their room. They lose interest in outside activities."
A Denver-area dad is leading the campaign -- a board certified anesthesiologist who says children change when they get a cellphone. "They go from being outgoing, energetic, interested in the world and happy, to reclusive. They want to spend all their time in their room. They lose interest in outside activities."
Is there any actual evidence that phones are bad for kids?
My kids got phones when they were 8. We can find them if they get lost, it makes it easy to coordinate pickups. It gives us more freedom to let them go and do what they want, since they can call if they get in situation they can't handle. In fact, we don't let them leave home without their phones. I don't see the downside. I don't think I need an anesthesiologist to tell me how to raise my kids.
It's going to be our problem when there is a generation of socially maladjusted children.
Can you cite any actual evidence that phones make kids socially maladjusted?
Perhaps kids still are outgoing, energetic, and interested in the world. Just through the portal of their phone, through which they can learn about literally anything and come into contact with billions of people around the planet. As opposed to just being able to learn about things around them and meet only people nearby.
Just what we need, more of the government telling us how to raise our kids. I personally haven't given my kids smartphones until they were 15. But I can certainly see circumstances other people might have in giving their kids smartphones and everyone's circumstances are different. Just because it may be a bad idea in general, doesn't mean it's a bad for everyone. Keep the decision making in the hands of those who know the kids and their circumstances best.
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You ever see a kid with books, they spend their time reading instead of playing outside and socializing. We should ban children from reading so we can have better adjusted children.
That's exactly the question: has it been researched and if not, how dare he abuse his title as an MD to put this point forward? I, for one, think that a child growing up today may risk getting socially isolated without a cell phone. It's the world we live in. Deal with it and teach your kids to.
Firsthand experience as a parent is good enough to express an opinion and try to convince other people.
Legislation should be based on science, for fucks sake.
It's an approachable idea that I would have no problem with individual parents implementing for their children.
I don't even mind if indviduals try to convince other individuals it's the right thing to do.
LEGISLATION should be based on fucking SCIENCE, not opinions. Get your fucking hands off the people's rights unless you can prove you're right.
IIRC they beefed up the requirements for a constitutional amendment last year, and I'd be surprised if that gets enough signatures to get on the ballot, much less get approved by the voters. This sort of busybody legislation traditionally doesn't go anywhere and this story wouldn't be news until it at least ends up on the ballot, except that it's clickbaity enough to get a lot of clicks.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
sounds like the guy who came up with this should grow some balls and put his foot down and say no to his kids instead of relying on the government to make a law so he can have an excuse
This. I'm not for legislating parenting techniques. If smartphones are causing kids to become reclusive, then educate the public about it. No need for a ban. Just teach parents that smartphone use for children needs to be monitored and limited. I personally believe it should be limited like any other electronic entertainment, like television, video games, and computers. But a law? No.
If everyone is "socially maladjusted", then it's society that has evolved in a certain direction, like it or not.
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
Take a look at the US laws. Every single one. Now use a blue marker for every law based on logic and science and a red marker for every law based on feelings, emotions, irrational fears and opinions.
I'm fairly sure you'll wear out a few red markers, while the blue one will last you a lifetime.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Read the post again. That the kids there turn out great does not establish causality. You must account for confounding factors (a proper controlled study).
"They go from being outgoing, energetic, interested in the world and happy, to reclusive. They want to spend all their time in their room. They lose interest in outside activities."
Of course there's evidence of this, it just changes every couple of years. Previous candidates: Heavy metal, Dungeons and Dragons, [...] stamp collecting, trading cards, [...] Morris Dancing, [...] cave painting [...] banging rocks together. I've left out a few hundred of them just to save space.
I personally believe it should be limited like any other electronic entertainment, like television, video games, and computers. But a law? No.
Gambling, prostitution, (paper) porn, alcohol, and any number of other "strongly motivating" forces in this world have been legally restricted "for the good of the nation." There is a significant segment of the population that simply can't deal with easy access to things that provide them a strong dopamine reward. Do cell phones fit this category? For some, yes.
Do we need a law? No more than we need laws for gambling, prostitution, cocaine, heroin, etc. Probably more mature and effective to provide education, counseling and easy access treatment programs, but that doesn't seem to be the American way.
Are there adults that are addicted to their smartphones? Most definitely.
There are a whole lot more adults that are simply addicted to avoidant behavior. If it wasn't smartphones it would be TV. Before TV it would've been a book.
For times immemorial, extroverts have looked at introverts and decided since introverts would rather spend a large amount of time not socializing there must be something wrong with them.
No, introverts just don't want to spend time socializing. That's it. That's all. Take our phones, take our computers, we still don't want to sit around in a group of 20 people singing Kumbaya.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
He's a typical American; you shouldn't be surprised. Americans love to show off their ignorance and revel in it.
An introvert doesn't askew all contact with humanity, they just chose to spend more time alone. I would never want to lose all contact with all people forever; but, if I prefer to go for a hike alone, or read a book alone, or be on my phone alone, or go kayaking in a safe location alone, that shouldn't be looked on as an abnormality.
A lot of extroverts feel like introverts are broken because they don't want to be surrounded by other people all the time. That's not true. There is "me" time and there is "with other people time". Introverts just prefer more "me" time.
No one wants to be truly alone. (or almost no one).
"That's the way to do it" - Punch