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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."
easy to clip this on to a bill banning burner phones then to just go for a age ban.
I have no plans to give my daughter, or any future children of mine, a smartphone. Ever*. I already limit iPad time (it's mine, not hers), because I want her to remain interested in other things. But, I don't need any government, or even other parents, telling me how to raise my children.
* my position is that when she can afford it, she can buy it. She's not banned from having one; she's just not going to get it from me.
The thinking is that technology interferes with creativity and young minds learn best through movement, hands-on tasks, and human-to-human interaction. Take for instance Waldorf schools. Students at these schools are gaining math, patterning, and problem-solving skills by knitting socks. They aren’t exposed to fractions through a computer program. Instead they learn about halves and quarters by cutting up food. Sounds a bit like summer camp? Well, yes, but parents in Los Altos and at over 150 similar schools across the country say the Waldorf method works and they’re sending their kids to top colleges, from Oberlin to Berkeley. That's my five-and-one-half-cents!
parents in Los Altos and at over 150 similar schools across the country say the Waldorf method works
Can you cite any actual evidence that they are right?
..but I think smartphones aren't all that great anyway. When some people get so wrapped up in whatever they're looking at on their smartphone that they literally bump into you walking down the street (or into a stationary object, or walk out into traffic, etc), then you have to wonder if they're being misused. Then there's the complete lack of security; any given smartphone, regardless of manufacturer, could be infected with malware, and the owner of the phone might never know about it, even if they never went to any risky URLs, never opened a suspicious email, and never clicked a dubious link. Then there's the fact that your smartphone might have malware baked right into the firmware from the factory. Meanwhile you're paying a premium every month just to have it connected to your wireless companys' network. Think about it: we live in a world where there are people right now who'd rather text each other than talk, even if they're in the same room. Does that seem right? It's easy for someone to say "well, it's a communication tool, I use it to stay in touch with people, and I can research things on the internet, and I can pull up a map to find where I need to go", but when people have their eyes glued to it practically every waking moment? Despite being told not to people are using their smartphones in theatres, and despite hefty fines and risk of being killed in an accident, people are constantly screwing around with their phones while they're driving. Doesn't it really sound like this 'useful' communications tool is being heavily abused to the point where it's more of a nuisance than it is a tool? Let's not even get started on the stories about people who have had thousands (and TENS of thousands) of dollars charged to them because their kids bought things in games or online on their phones..
I don't have a smartphone. I can't justify the expense of the hardware or the monthly connectivity cost, and I especially can't justify carrying around something so incapable of being secured properly against intrusion and against malware infection. Nor do I care to carry around an electronic leash that allows anyone with access to know precisely where I am and perhaps even listen in on what I'm doing or turn on the camera and see what I'm doing. The so-called 'benefits' of the connectivity and processing capabilities are just not anywhere near sufficient to mitigate all the expense and all the problems and deficiencies associated with it. Now we find that perhaps the technology itself, because of how it's misused, overused, and abused, is potentially destructive to kids. Really makes me wonder what it is we've allowed to be done to us.
I guess 13 year olds magically have money and cars now to go to the store and buy smart phones. Oh wait, they don't. If you can't tell them no, then you tell them hell no. You're not their friend, you're their parent. Now regarding the burner phone slipping into a Bill idea mentioned, that's an actual possibility when retailers have to ask who you're buying the phone for. They make you show a drivers license for phones that have no contracts like Straighttalk, and that eliminates the point of the phone for some people. Your name is now associated with the device. Though, this may encourage more "dumb" phones in the market which will ironically be a much better burner phone.
Of course there is plenty of evidence. The same evidence that proved that having computers in their bedrooms was destroying their future. Like all the crap we get fed it is always based on a few anecdotal cases that we are expected to believe are automatically the rule in every case.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
I know you're being sarcastic, but there was quite an outcry about novels when they first came out. It was time better spent learning a skill or trade. All those classic pieces of literature foisted on our youth by English teachers around the country were once considered worthless distractions. In fact a significant portion of great works of literature were hated in their day.
The problem is, take kids away from their phones and then in 10 years watch all the bellyaching that these young adults don't know how to do 21st century research or are technically inept. You know, same as how putting computers in bedrooms was a huge mistake mistake for my generation and now suddenly our young adults can't code and are inept with the single most important tool for their careers.
Every kid pre cell phones had the freedom to go where they wanted and do what they want. My mom used to tell me to be back when the street lights came on and off I went on my bike. No cell phone. You need to stop being a helicopter parent and let your children be children.
I think your oversell the power of parenting in social situations. I can't run my son's social life for him in school, and if some large plurality of kids have smartphones and now he's excluded from a lot of social activity because he literally can't participate in it, now I have to deal with the fallout at home.
It's been manageable thusfar, but the writing is on the wall. We already hear complaints about not being able to spend time with other kids because activities are arranged via text or snapchat or whatever. I think up to now, it's largely been a positive because he's not had a chance to be an impulsive 12 year old via electronic communication, but eventually I also don't want my kid to feel like he has no social connections, either.
Parents make a million and one mistakes parenting. If it was easy and if we all had ideal role models (ie, our own parents), then everyone would be perfect. But it's not easy, every kid is different and our role models are as flawed as we are.
The guy's law is entirely non-workable for so many reasons, but I at least see where he's coming from.
'Those darned teenagers! Spending hour after hour on the phone!
What happens to human interaction when a virtual conversation with a bot is determined to be better than any real one?
What happens to companionship and procreation when machines and virtual realities can pleasure us better than a human alternative, and without the risk of dying prematurely from a world running rampant with STDs?
What happens to human employment and education when automation and AI become good enough to destroy it?
What happens to critical thinking and educating humans when the concept of employment and monetary reward is no longer viable?
As you dismiss these concepts, are you certain this technology is still "waaaay far away", or merely a couple of decades? 20 years ago you were still using a modem to dial
up to the internet. Compare that to what you can do today, from a wireless smartphone.
The next iterations of "advancement" are quite a bit different, and is not something we are readily prepared for, so perhaps you can stop clutching your pearls now. Ancient analogies likely won't apply.
Leave it to the parents, I say. I know parents who rations "screen time" (phone as well as pc and tv.)
This so the kids will have enough time to socialize and learn motor skills. No need for a ban - because small amounts of smartphone usage is not a problem.
Geez, I couldn't keep up with my jacket for more than 2-3 weeks when I was 8yrs old....much less a $$$$$ small electronic device.
I guess I can see the "pro" side of it..easier contact with kids...as that we don't have pay phone everywhere like we used to.
But I dunno...I don't think I'd buy my kids smartphones that young. Actually I think I'd have them work and earn money to buy most of the phone and "help" them a bit...but likely only when they were a teen, maybe 16yrs?
I'm not sure the obsession parents seem to have today....are the chances of a child kidnapping THAT much greater than it was when I was a kid, or are people more paranoid?
I mean, when I was a kid 12yrs old or so, I'd take off on my skateboard in the mornings in the summer...and might not come home till dinner time...I'd be out running around skating with friends, maybe building a ramp (with plywood stolen from new houses being built, no one got in trouble)...or running out in woods....maybe at the neighborhood swimming pool....but I wasn't in 24/7 phone touch with parents. When I was younger than 12yrs, I was pretty much the same way, but my folks would want me to try to call from a friend's house to check in every 2-3 hours...but that was for very young.
The more I think about it, I"m really GLAD we didn't have cell phones where parents could track us 24/7.....glad there wasn't a fscking camera everywhere, and social media.
I'd not have had the fun I did....and the mischief we got into...didn't lead us to getting into trouble, or going on records, or being scrutinized by everyone in the world.
We had fun, learned from mistakes, and I'm still friends with many of those same guys, and we now have tons of fun stories when we get together.
Man..the more I think about some of our exploits back then...if done today, would have had homeland security looking for us...*SIGH*
I actually feel sorry for the kids of today a bit....with all the electronics, they don't seem to learn as early (if at all) how to really talk to each other and socialize in meat space as well. They don't seem to be as active.....having friends in their neighborhoods, with "kill the man with the ball" games breaking out, etc. and doing other fun outdoor activies.
I don't think maybe I'd buy my young kids smart phones, maybe not buy phones at all....I'd want to allow them to be kids like I was, to learn what it is to be trusted and trustworthy, and to face consequences when they did wrong and go caught.
Hell, I'm not sure I'd let them on social media till they were much older....you can't be bullied on social media, if you're not on it....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........