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

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 kaszz on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:11AM (4 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:11AM (#528272) Journal

    One possible way to solve it is to have the phone require simple mathematical riddles solved. Like "What is the derive of cos(5x+2) ?" ..answer in 30 seconds. Or the phone will lock for a week. If the user is too young they will not be able to answer it. The OS could implement this. And if the user is smart enough to hack it then they passed the "brains" test anyway.

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  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:38AM (1 child)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:38AM (#528281)

    And if the user is smart enough to hack it then they passed the "brains" test anyway.

    How incredibly irresponsible. Are you suggesting that children wouldn't be sufficiently motivated enough to learn how to solve these problems? Or perhaps to write short, grammatically correct answers to demonstrate comprehension of increasingly complex reading material? What sort of a future are your recommendations guiding these poor children, and possibly even young adults, towards?

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by kaszz on Tuesday June 20 2017, @02:41AM

      by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @02:41AM (#528298) Journal

      A future where people that should not handle powerful things are prevented from doing so?

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday June 20 2017, @04:13AM (1 child)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday June 20 2017, @04:13AM (#528331)

    Huh, looks like this already exists [studylockapp.com]. Neat!

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday June 21 2017, @05:19PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Wednesday June 21 2017, @05:19PM (#529123) Journal

      Now that is interesting. However they probably need a education in HTML and user interface design themselves first ;)
      (hint.. background makes the text undecipherable)