I remember the first time a friend tried to explain to me what a “beeper” was and how it was the coolest technology in the world. Next, I remember the first time I saw a brick cell phone. Then came news reports that cell phones might cause cancer or other illnesses. What truth was there to those rumors? Were studies done? The whole warnings just seemed to vanish as soon as they came up. Did the big cell phone companies quiet the issues to sell more phones? Well, we’re not going to get into conspiracy theories, but I do want to point out some glaring issues that could become major health issues for today’s teens, and other unintended consequences. Things that may not affect them today, but later in their lives.
Hand Held Devices and Texting Will Cause Mass Illiteracy
As many teens today what “BRB” or “LOL” mean and they will roll their eyes and walk away. The point is your question may not register on their cool scale, but they could tell you what those mean, but would have real trouble spelling “restaurant.” Sooner than later, most of these teens will not have a basic understanding of the English language. This will not only affect teens ability to communicate with each other in the future, but significantly limit their ability to communicate with the world. Imagine someone in the Philippines trying to decipher what “OMG WTHAMIH BRB LOL.”
Serious Neck Problems and Lack Of Awareness
My step daughter had three friends spend the night over a recent weekend. The next morning at breakfast they spent about fifteen minutes in silence as they all held their respective cell phones in their laps while on a texting frenzy. Not only did they not communicate with each other, they kept their necks completely bent down the entire time. It isn’t just cell phones. I’ve seen iPad users and Sony PSP users doing the same thing. It doesn’t take a genius to see that texting will cause serious neck problems later on in life.
Recently, several videos made the rounds on the web showing people doing stupid things like walking into water fountains in malls while texting. People just don’t pay attention to their surroundings anymore. A huge tornado could be coming right at them, and most people probably wouldn’t even look up. It is already well established that texting while driving is extremely dangerous. Most people can’t even walk to the mailbox or go to the bathroom without taking their tech devices. Seriously? This will cause attention problems and generally annoy the rest of the population who aren’t constantly walking around nose-to-phone.