Tweens. Such an interesting name for kids who are not quite pre-teens, yet aren't little kids either. I am the parent of a tween. He is such a good kid. He is my baby (however he would die if he knew I said that). I have been doing what I can to make sure that his home environment is conducive for his health (and ours) by my lifestyle choices.
I was on the way to my writers club and on the radio they were talking about how tweens are one of the big marketing groups to cell phone companies. My interest peaked and I turned the radio up loud enough that Beethoven would have heard it had he been in the car. Tweens now account for 20 million mobile phones. What? Did I hear that correctly? They carried it further by saying that this is 46% of the tween population. How is that possible?
However, there is such a disturbing trend among the tween set that I had to comment. When I was my son's age, I was more concerned about playing outside and seeing what kind of cool things I could add to the fort my sister and I had in the woods behind our house. By the time I was 12; I was going to the movies once a week with friends and reading voraciously. I always took change when I went to the movie theater so that I could call my aunt to pick me up when it was over. Either that or she told me what time she would be there to pick me up; usually within 5 minutes or so of the movie ending.
Needless to say, this was on my mind all night and I had to come home and see if it were true. Sure enough, staring back at me are the reports from
Nielsen Mobile. On average kids are receiving their first phones between ages 10 and 11. Now, I can understand extenuating circumstances, but has it really come to this? Have we become so paranoid that we have to be able to tag our children every second of every day? Or has our society become so brainwashed that they feel that their kids have to have everything they need to be cool? What is the media consumption teaching our children? That they have to be wired every hour of every day? That life is not living unless they are connected some way, somehow? With all of the unknowns about cell phone use, aren’t we just a little concerned that we are exposing developing bodies to the unknown?
I spend hours of my time trying to disconnect from the media. However, people are so consumed by always being available that I was questioned because I didn’t take my cell phone on the beach while we were surfing this summer. If it is that important, leave me a message and I will call you back. If my friends knew how close I came everyday to turning it all off, never to turn it on again, they would be amazed. I am talking about everything. When I am at home by myself writing, I don’t turn the tv on.
I think that
noise pollution can be just as bad as chemical pollution. The Latin word for “noise” is “nausea”. Too much noise affects everything that you do. It can affect everything that you do. Excess noise can cause problems such as hearing loss, stress, and blood pressure issues. I myself have experienced stress as well as sleep loss, distraction, and a loss in my productivity. However, my husband needs noise to function. While we try to respect each other’s wishes, sometimes it can be just a little tense.
Other than health consequences, what about the environmental consequences? Kids are not the best at when it comes to keeping up with their possessions. How many cell phones are sitting in a landfill? How many are in a body of water? What about the lead and mercury that has leached from these phones into our food chain? How many years is it going to take before we see the harmful effects? I just wonder how many of them are being recycled. Better yet, I wonder why the mobile phone companies are not offering recycling incentives.
I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s not to blame on the kids. The parents are just as responsible, maybe even paranoid, that if they don’t have a constant dog tag on their children. Do I blame the parents? I am not assessing blame. The media hyper-sensationalizes every single thing they can. It makes for big ratings, but in this age of paranoia and fear, sometimes less is better.
It’s not that I don’t want to hear about pertinent issues. I do. But when my local television news station is telling me that Paris Hilton has a new boyfriend and the Britney Spears wasn’t wearing underwear, then it’s time that I find my news elsewhere. They are just looking for ratings.
Take the current political state of our country. I was talking to a friend who was criticized for watching both sides of the party’s speeches. He was criticized for watching Sarah Palin’s speech for its “Republican” dribble. He is as far left as they come. However, he looked at the person saying this to him and said “the elections are all about choice and how can I make a choice if I don’t listen to what both sides have to say?”
The thing I want to say is, “turn off the television”. Better yet, “turn off the cell phones”. Take your kids outside to play. Teach them that it’s ok, by your actions, not to have to be in constant contact at all times. Let them learn to think for themselves. If they are constantly connected, they will never learn to think for themselves. They will only think if they can text someone for the answer, never creating their own ideology or making their own decisions. Most importantly, teach them to enjoy the sounds of nature, not the latest ringtone on their phone. If you don’t have the silence, how can you say it’s not golden?
Recycle your cell phone:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8818.html