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Colorado Dad Wants to Ban Smartphone Sales to Children

posted by n1 on Monday June 19 2017, @11:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the think-of-the-children dept.

takyon writes:

We see smartphones everywhere. In school hallways, at the family dinner table and plugged in at the bedside table.

But how young is too young to be constantly connected to the rest of the world through sleek apps, social media and video messaging?

One Colorado man has decided that age 13 seems like a good cutoff.

Tim Farnum is leading the charge on a proposed ballot initiative in Colorado that would be the first of its kind in the country. Farnum's proposal would ban the sale of smartphones to children younger than 13, or more likely, to parents who intend to give the smartphone to kids in that age bracket.

Farnum, a Denver-area anesthesiologist, is the founder of Parents Against Underage Smartphones, or PAUS, the nonprofit group pushing the proposal.

Source: Coloradoan.com

Also reported by: The Washington Post

Initial Fiscal Impact Statement: Colorado.gov [PDF]

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday June 20 2017, @12:57AM (4 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @12:57AM (#528265) Journal
    Should just be banned entirely. They're no less harmful in the hands of adults.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:03AM (#528269)

    Finally a solution to the problem of butt-dialing.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:15AM (2 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:15AM (#528274) Journal

    It's a misnomer from the get go "Smartphone". Just taste the word. A phone is not smart to begin with. And the current models of computer phones which they are. They are full of shit like a radiomodem that can backdoor the main processor. A operating system that facilitate spying and does spy itself. Hardware that lack physical blocks against spying and is hostile to field upgrades. A software environment that is built around a walled garden and your credit card.

    And of course the "smart" phone can't have the crappy operating system "booted" ..
    Nor is there any documentation on how to use the graphics chip like those early VGA chips had.

    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:33AM (1 child)

      by Arik (4543) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:33AM (#528279) Journal
      Yes, that's why I call them smart-ass phones instead, it's much more accurate. They are defective by design and consistently, bizarrely mis-engineered pieces of junk. It's not that we don't have the technology to make something better - it's that the buying public is, collectively, so damn ignorant and apathetic no decent businessman could possibly refrain from shafting them thoroughly both going and coming. That mass-market which bases their purchasing decision on your ad campaign rather than even the most simple of logical processes makes it so profitable to churn out the poor product that a decent product has no chance to even make it to market.

      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?

      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:39AM

        by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:39AM (#528283) Journal

        Maybe you pointed out the answer. Make the current breed of computer phones so bad that people get dissatisfied with the in large numbers? self replicating malware or whatever.

        And ad campaigns that ends up in gigantic public shame for the advertiser?