Posts tagged as:

cell phones

Who’s the Boss, You or Your Gadget?

by mark on February 7, 2011

This NYT article presents the competition between the pros and cons of all of the technologies that we have at our fingertips. There’s an app for just about every kind of task you can imagine. and they can be used to help along your personal and work life.

But if you’re not consciously making sure that it’s working for you, it can own you, and before you know it, those same apps are taking away from your life.

From a family perspective, many of the ideas that are discussed from the perspective of adults can be adapted to kids as well.

You bought your kids cell phones so they can keep in touch in case of an emergency, or just for convenience. Have your kids been taken over by the cell phones? Do they text constantly to a point of being completely distracted all of the time? Have your kids turns into bad-manners-monsters because they can’t put them down even when they’re at the dinner table at the grandparents? Have technologies taken control of your kid’s reports cards?

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Should Be Mandatory Viewing For All Teens

by mark on January 25, 2011

Megan got her driver’s license last month. Ya. I worry. She’s a responsible teen as far as teens go. But teens also are prone to very poor judgment.

I’m not sure if this video will change any of that, but I think all kids should watch it.

If your kids are driving, or about to get a license, share this with them.

Do you think it will make them think? Do you think it will change their behavior? Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think?

[ hat tip: Advice Goddess ]

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Are Gadgets Making Us Rude?

by mark on November 2, 2010

The Today Show featured one of my favorite bloggers, Amy Alkon, talking about the trend towards more rudeness, especially with respect to us keeping our noses buried in our devices or yammering on cell phones.

Watch the video at Amy’s site.

People are losing awareness of what’s going on around them. They are living in a bubble caused by the portable game, iPhone, iPod, cell phone, whatever it may be.

Do you snap at your kids when you see them texting their friends at a restaurant, or around a dinner table with family? Do you ever make everybody shut off their devices in the car and make them all engage in conversation? Or are you part of the problem being a bad role model yourself, by being one of these rude citizens?

Amy’s bright and pretty down to earth. I love her directness with which she deals with other people’s rude behavior, and her vigilante style of going after people who need to have their asses kicked. Go buy her book and read it so that when you’re in a situation where no one else is willing stand up against the tyranny of the inconsiderate, you will be confident and prepared to do battle.

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Texting While Driving: Bans Making It Worse?

by mark on September 28, 2010

Thirty states ban texting while driving, and results in no reduction in accidents.

In three out of four of the states where studies were done to determine the laws effects, the number of crashes increased.

Could it be that the law isn’t deterring people because it’s generally a difficult law to enforce? Having phone records subpoenaed after the crash can provide evidence that you were on your cell phone talking or texting. But this law is difficult to enforce in an effort to avoid the accidents in the first place.

So, now, instead of having to keep your eyes on the road ahead of you while you’re texting, you also have to focus on your rear view mirror, and on the stationary cars on the side of the road that could be police cars that will bust you for texting. More distractions!

So if I’m injured in an accident, I’m going to sue the lawmakers who exacerbated an already dangerous situation. What do you think?

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“Desire” at Techno Tuesday

by mark on October 6, 2009

image from Techno Tuesday

by Andy Rementer @ TechnoTuesday.com

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LOL!! Im abt 2 die vlntly!

LOL!! Im abt 2 die vlntly!

by mark on August 1, 2009

A Google image search for texting while driving will turn up some pictures that will give you nightmares. If your kids text while driving, you might want to show those pictures to them. I am not inclined to link to them here because… they are gross.

But if it makes your texting teen rethink updating their Twitter while driving, then perhaps let them see what can happen.

A lot of adults aren’t any brighter than careless teens.

“My job has me out on the road for four to five days out of the week,” Anthony Perry, a director of business development for a Washington-based health care research firm, told CNN in an e-mail sent from his BlackBerry. “I don’t particularly think I am that good at texting while driving but I do it anyway, recognizing the risks.”

I don’t think he actually does recognize the risks. Mr. Perry, please have a look at those images I mentioned above. Only then can you say that you recognize the risks.

More stupidity follows:

Nevertheless, for many in business, it seems to be a matter of competitive survival.

“Now with e-mail and with the advent of the BlackBerries and hyper-accessibility, there’s this sense that if you don’t show that you’re always prepared and ready to respond and address an issue, then somehow you’re going to be perceived as not being conscientious or not keeping up on things,” said Tom Britt, a professor of social psychology at Clemson University in South Carolina.

“I could not imagine doing my job, or living my life, without the aid of a bberry,” Perry wrote. “I don’t know many who could who are in my line of work.”

In the context of an article about the modern workplace, devices and connectivity, that kind of attitude wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. But this is from this article about texting while driving. Are people seriously justifying the need to text while driving? Work demands are forcing you to put your life in great peril? Really? Or do you think that you’re that important (not to mention, indestructible)?

Mr. Perry. You only get once chance to become fatally distracted. Do that Google image search mentioned above. You’re job isn’t important enough to risk your own life or the lives of others.

Sending that message can’t possibly be that important. If it is, then it’s important enough to justify pulling over for a minute.

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Post image for Why Do Some Adults Have a Harder Time Unplugging Than Kids?

Why Do Some Adults Have a Harder Time Unplugging Than Kids?

by mark on May 17, 2009

Who do you think has anxiety the most from kids having to unplug from their devices when they go to summer camp for two weeks? The kids? Or Mom or Dad?

In some cases, both.

Having gone through an Internet connectivity outage that went on for over twenty four hours, I can understand what it is like to feel unable to communicate via email, keep up with the outside world, and get work done. I work from home. So my Internet connection is important to me. I experienced significant frustration, a feeling of helplessness, perhaps some anxiety. But within a few hours, I realized that I would survive and that my connectivity would be restored at some point, and then I was able to move on to enjoy my forced vacation from being online.

Sounds like the kids who experienced the forced disconnection from tech at summer camp go through the same thing. But they do survive and quickly find out that their time can be filled with enjoyable things to do with other people. And many find that they even don’t miss their connectivity.

But the helicopter parents mentioned in the article appear to be the most anxious ones. Gasp! They can’t be in constant contact with their kids! And what is their reaction? Fear! The idea that their kids can’t pick up after a couple of rings to reassure them that they are safe makes Mom really uneasy… Does Mom resolve to let go and just get a grip? No. Instead she reassures herself that she can bug the camp counselors frequently to check in on her kid.

And what do the camp counselors have to do to fend off the barrage of worrisome parents constantly calling? They have to reassure parents that their kids are still alive by posting photos of them on an online gallery. Oh brother.

When I was a kid, my parents dropped me off for two weeks at camp, and then hopped on a ship to the Bahamas for at least a week if not longer. There was no way that either of us could get in touch with each other even if there was some kind of emergency. Maybe some kind of telegram could have been sent to let them know that I was eaten by a bear. But I have a feeling that my parents would have rather waited to hear about that when they got home. Why spoil a fun vacation in the Caribbean with news of my unfortunate death?

[photo by Symic]

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Cell Phone – Brain Tumor Link, in Kids

by mark on March 25, 2009

Cellphones trying to pop corn kernals with their radiation! (urban legend)

Photo by Jakub Hlavaty

Another great reason why kids should spend more time face-to-face.

Cellphone use in kids linked to brain tumours

“What stands out is the consistency of the association of exposure and disease. The evidence, as I see it, is sufficiently strong that there needs to be public warnings, there needs to be establishments of exposure guidelines and that the present guidelines — in Canada, the United States or anyone else — are not protective of human health.

“I see us facing a major problem in the future because of the fact that young children are on cellphones constantly, and we may be setting ourselves up for an epidemic of brain cancer, the same thing we did with cigarette smoking and lung cancer.”

According to Columbia University physiology professor Martin Blank, who edited the special issue, the laboratory studies “point to significant interactions” of both power frequency and radio frequency with cellular components, especially DNA.

The epidemiological studies “point to increased risk” of developing certain cancers associated with long-term exposure to radio frequency, he said.

Learned about this story through Tina Su‘s Tweet. Thanks for that link Tina!

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Over Half of Humanity Use Cell Phones

March 18, 2009

Wow! FuturePundit: Over Half Of Humanity Use Cell Phones

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14,528 Text Messages in One Month

January 12, 2009

This Kid’s a Text Maniac! 14,528 text messages in one month. The online AT&T statement ran 440 pages. “First, I laughed. I thought, ‘That’s insane, that’s impossible,’ ” the 45-year-old dad said. “And I immediately whipped out the calculator to see if it was humanly possible.” He found it was – barely. It works out [...]

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