Group items tagged

Almost every day brings another technology that connects us to the Internet and to each other faster and easier than ever before," said Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.  "As a member of the law enforcement community, we are focused on public safety and making sure that kids and their parents have the tools they need to be safe on the Internet."   “Wireless technology is an invaluable tool for millions of Americans to stay connected to friends and family,” said Steve Largent, President of The Wireless Foundation and President and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association.  “As more and more of our nation’s youth are using wireless devices, it’s important to make the mobile environment as safe as possible.  I’m pleased that the wireless industry has voluntarily provided parents with the tools and information needed to encourage responsible and safe use of cell phones.”

The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.

Psychologists expect to see teenagers break free from their parents as they grow into autonomous adults, Professor Turkle went on, “but if technology makes something like staying in touch very, very easy, that’s harder to do; now you have adolescents who are texting their mothers 15 times a day, asking things like, ‘Should I get the red shoes or the blue shoes?’ ”