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No lol, anyone under 17 shouldn't have a smartphone period unless its for emergency purposes. Why would a 12 year old need a smartphone to text and play games? Why can't they socialize outdoors or at school?
The "need" is absolutely no ones business beyone the parent and the 12 year old.
More people should seek out the timbers in their own eyes, than busy themselves with worry about the motes in the eyes of others.
No lol, anyone under 17 shouldn't have a smartphone period unless its for emergency purposes. Why would a 12 year old need a smartphone to text and play games? Why can't they socialize outdoors or at school?
All you've said is that teens should not have smartphones but haven't really said why. What's the downside? A parent can make rules about it (such as don't use at the dinner table) as they see fit. But keeping teens in the dark ages (metaphorically) will stunt their learning potential (social, academic, technical, etc).
I think the earlier they start utilizing technology as tools within their lives, the more prepared they'll be for the real world. No one is suggesting they use it exclusively to replace all other methods of communication and socializing, but the reality is that in today's world, technology, such as smartphones, are great tools that compliment our daily activities.
Why hold your teen from learning everything they can? We should supply them with all the tools to learn anything they want. Smartphones are one of those tools.
Do they absolutely NEED a smartphone? No. Should they have one? Probably more than many adults.
Kidding (or not) aside, a friend of mine who is a shrink who treats people with addictions told me over lunch not that long ago, that he's actually getting patients that are coming in for cell addiction now.
The short of it is that a larger number of people than you may think have addiction problems. It's not just one thing though, that's the problem - we tend to blame individual things for addiction issues... alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, porn, whatever. Those individual things are not the actual cause of the person's problem, it's an addiction disorder buried within them that causes the outlying things like alcoholism, smoking addiction, etc to manifest itself - not those individual things. So excessive cell use is not the fault of the cell phones, it's a greater addiction issue that a lot of people have within them. If you were to take someone's smart phone from them, they would exhibit the same things some other types of addicts would - nervousness, irritation, anxiety, etc. But if you kept it away from them LONG term, they would replace it with something else like smoking, drinking, over eating, etc. Taking the phone away would not solve the problem because the addiction issue is still there, inside of the person.
Anyway - way too mind probing for me, but I believe it.
For myself, I literally use just over 1 hour of talk time on my cell per month. Maybe 300 texts per month, total. I'll check my phone a few times a day max for messages simply because my phone doesn't have a notification light on it. I use a couple of apps like one for the weather but that's about it. I don't use it in the car while driving, and I don't check it while eating out with friends or talking to someone face-to-face. If I'm in the middle of a conversation with someone in person, and in the middle of my talking to them they pull out their cell to check texts (this HAS happened), I'll simply turn around, and walk off. When they notice I'm gone and yell for me, I'll simply respond, "When you're finished texting let me know and we'll finish our conversation", and I keep going. They either learn from that, or, we don't converse any longer. Tech is great, but once it causes you to act like a jackass when interacting with people in person, there's nothing wrong with tossing it back in their face, either.
All you've said is that teens should not have smartphones but haven't really said why. What's the downside? A parent can make rules about it (such as don't use at the dinner table) as they see fit. But keeping teens in the dark ages (metaphorically) will stunt their learning potential (social, academic, technical, etc).
Do they absolutely NEED a smartphone? No. Should they have one? Probably more than many adults.
How about more upsides?
Couple I know has a very responsible 15 year old. He was given a cell phone with certain rules:
No texting whatsoever during class or during meals.
Phone has Google Latitude on it. Mom and Dad can check at any time to see where child is.
I asked child: does it bother you that you folks can track you?
"Nope. Makes me feel safer actually. It's not like I sneak around on them anyway..."
And if child is ever in trouble, mom and dad are set on speed dial.
Most people cannot tolerate feelings of boredom, restlessness, loneliness, etc, even in very small doses.
It is a good thing these devices were invented...how did mankind ever exist before?
2.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian.Pearson
Even worse, people get killed typing in numbers or texting while driving.
Actually if they are that stupid, it is just natural selection combined with item 1 at work. The REALLY bad thing is these %^#$*& too often kill others instead.
I'm not defending driving while texting, but Jimazee made me think of something.
Sure people do dumb things and text while driving and some times they may kill someone while doing it.
Yet, we blame the technology??
People have been dying in car accidents since cars were invented. The difference is that 15 years ago, it was a distracted driver that spilled coffee on himself. Or was fiddling with the radio and took his eyes off the road.
Cell phones don't kill people. Distracted drivers do.
It's unbelievable. Wherever I go people always have them shoved in their faces. I go out to dinner with my family the next family over has their cell phones out and are looking into them. And every other commercial I see is a cell phone commercial. I see people texting and driving which is totally unacceptable because you're risking your life doing that. Cell phones are fine when you need them to talk. I don't understand why you need to text, go on the internet, use games on it when you're out doing things. Not sure the answers I am going to get because I am asking this in the technology section. Why are people so addicted? Why don't they understand they have a problem? Btw I am not hating on cell phones. I just want to know why people use them as much as they do.
you're 100% right in saying texting & driving is a giant HUGE no-no. Tragically, many lives have been lost because of it.
with regard to smartphones, they are also mini computers now, and they seem to be getting faster, therefore people "feel" productive, or more productive. whether or not they truly are is a whole nother story. smartphones are also time-savers because so much information is right at your fingertips, for example: maps that help you reach a destination as if you've been there 100 times instead of looking like a lost, unfortunate ninkompoop. A friend who is meeting you can call you from street to say "Let's meet at Johnny's apartment instead of me coming over first". in the past, this friend would have needed to find a payphone.
or a delivery driver can get clarity from a business e.g.: "I'm having an issue finding your door. where are you exactly?" so many people feel smartphones make city life (and not so city life too, where there's a cell signal) more efficient.
the mobility factor is the number 1 reason and number 1 answer to your question because humans IMO are programmed to move and keep moving, a carryover from millennia ago in how our brains were hardwired for survival. the smartphone's predecessors, the stationary computers, lacked mobility for 99.99% of regular people. the smartphone by contrast gave people a sense of freedom, and it's this new feeling of liberation that is at the core of what you see nowadays ( i.e. people with their faces in their smartphones so often, etc)
Addictions do exist, no doubt. I personally wouldn't be surprised if I was diagnosed with a genuine addiction; I think I'm addicted to the learning aspect of smartphones and trying to become really skilled with them BUT let's hope we as a nation can add more balance to what's going on so that it doesn't become a huge cultural problem.
Last edited by grimace8; 09-14-2012 at 08:52 AM..
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